[Urgent Petition] Protect Children in Watari, Fukushima from Radiation!

Final Deadline for Signatures: October 31, 2011

October 7, 2011

On October 5, residents of Watari, a district of Fukushima City, submitted a petition concerning the designation of special evacuation points because of the high levels of contamination found in their district. (See below for details.) Within two days, they also collected 113 signatures from residents of Watari, Oguraji, and Nankodai. On October 8th, the Japanese government and Fukushima City held a joint informational session at Watari Elementary School and announced that they would not designate any special evacuation points in thes districts. Moreover, not all Watari residents were informed that this meeting was taking place. To protect children in Watari from radiation, please sign the petition!

To sign the petition online, go to: https://goo.gl/oLJm4

To download and sign a hard copy of the petition, go to:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/23151586/111005_watari_yousei.pdf

To protect children in Watari from radiation: A petition concerning the designation of special evacuation points in Watari and compensation

We hereby request the government to take the following measures to protect Watari residents—especially children—from radiation.

1. Instead of using a household as a unit for designating a special evacuation point, the government should designate the entire township of Watari as a special evacuation zone.

2. The government should conduct another detailed survey that will cover the entire township of Watari in considering the designation of special evacuation points. Moreover, the government should measure radiation levels with a 1cm distance from the ground, increase the number of data points to include ditches, aqueducts, and interiors of houses, and add a survey of soil contamination.

3. When designating special evacuation points in Watari, the government should use stricter criteria for households with children and/or pregnant women than those for the general public, as it did in the cases of Date and Minamisoma Cities.

4. The government should follow guidelines of the Atomic Power Safety Commission and take into consideration all possible mechanisms of internal exposure and degrees of soil contamination when it estimates cumulative exposure to radiation and designates special evacuation points.

5. The government should guarantee compensations for those who have voluntarily evacuated from areas outside special evacuation zones and those who have stayed. The government as well as the city should also provide cash advances to assist evacuations.

6. The government should use informational sessions to listen to residents and incorporate their opinions into its decisions, not to unilaterally announce the designation of special evacuation points.


Support organizations and contact information:
·Save Watari Kids
·Fukushima Network for Saving Children from Radiation
·Citizens Against the Fukushima Aging Nuclear Power Plants (Fukuro-no-Kai): Takeshi Sakagami 090-8116-7155
·Friends of the Earth Japan: Kanna Mitsuta 090-6142-1807

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