Seven months after the nuclear disaster: We continue to live on this land to re-claim our “sovereign power”

–Koriyama Medical Cooperatives, Fukushima Prefecture–

by Miyatake Maki

More than half a year has passed since the disaster of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Many people in Fukushima Prefecture have been deprived of their normal life and means of living due to the damage caused by radioactive substances.
Immediately following the nuclear accident, Koriyama Medical Cooperative Society established the task force, and has worked to protect the life and health of the people in the community as well as of the staff and their families of the cooperative, and sent out on-the-spot information to the outer world.
In July, the medical co-op launched a special campaign, “Facing the radiation contamination, let us protect the life and health of our community as a whole.” The project is now underway, upholding seven campaign policies (in the column).
What follows is a report on day-to-day activities carried out by the staff/workers engaged in local medical and nursing services, members of the medical cooperative and Kyodososhiki in the campaign.

Protecting the staff and their families based on the seven campaign policies
“The most serious problem in Fukushima Prefecture is that there are no jobs available”, says Mr. Egawa Masato, the general manager of Kuwano Kyoritsu Hospital of Koriyama Medical Cooperative Society. “In this employment situation, keeping our medical and nursing services alive in this area means protecting the living of our workers. And as long as we continue to work and live here, it is inevitable to keep the level of radiation exposure as low as possible. After discussing what we can do to live in this community, we have come up with the Seven Campaign Policies in our special project”, he says.
Learning about this project, Shonai Medical Co-op of Yamagata, Medical Co-op Saitama, Minami Medical Co-op of Aichi and Hamakita Medical Co-op of Shizuoka have prepared refreshment camps and events during summer in their areas, so that the children of the staff of Koriyama Co-op could spend some days during the summer vacation outside Fukushima.

Refreshment camps carried out by the support from across the country
In order to secure vacation times for its workers to join these summer camps, Koriyama Medical Co-op sent out requests through the Min-Iren national network for sending backup support nurses to Koriyama. As a result, 20 prefectural federation of Min-Iren responded to the request and sent their nurses, enabling Koriyama nursing staff to participate in the summer camps outside Fukushima together with their children.
“Since the nuclear power plant accident, we have spent our days in anguish, but we are so grateful for the solidarity from our Min-Iren colleagues for material and human resource support from all over Japan,” says Kuwano Kyoritsu Hospital’s head nurse Sato Shoko. She adds, “There are some nurses who want to get out of Fukushima. Others say that they have never regretted having chosen to be a nurse as now, as they cannot leave the patients behind. But now that the task force is working to discuss and carry out the plans, including the refreshment camps, to help ease the burden of the workers, they are beginning to feel that they are protected and cared for. This feeling of being ‘protected’ helps them to yield their own strength to ‘protect our colleagues in the workplaces, patients and the community.”
The nursing care section, which covers 13 institutions in the co-op, also received the support of backup nurses. Mr. Nitta Yoichi, the Head of the Nursing Care Insurance Department says, “The supporting nurses who have come to Koriyama worked so hard and sincerely in unfamiliar surroundings. Our staff felt keenly that the entire national organization was in support of us.”
Assistant nurse Miura Kaori, together with her two children, took part in the summer camp organized by Hamakita Medical Co-op in Shizuoka in August. She says with her eyes moist with tears, “Looking at my children running around in the park, I was really pleased to have joined the camp. I shall never forget the help we have received from our colleagues from around the country. I can never thank too much for the support given to us since the nuclear accident. Some day, I hope I will be able to do something in return for their kindness.”

Opportunities to learn the reality of Fukushima
Koriyama Medical Co-op also set up opportunities for the support workers from outside to learn the present situation of Fukushima. Dr. Tsuboi Masao, the hospital director is working as a lecturer for such study meetings, telling them what it means to live in a community suffering from “nuclear damage.” “Nuclear damage” refers to the suffering caused by the failed nuclear power plant. He says, “From our past experiences of combating industrial pollution, we have learned that it is not enough to deal with the industrial wastes that result in creating environmental pollution and it is necessary to eradicate the root-cause. The same is equally true to nuclear power plant accidents.” And he stresses, “The nuclear power plant deprived us of our ‘sovereign power.’ We want to regain our sovereign power in this area.”
Dr. Tsuboi claims that (1) the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) should cover the expenses necessary to conduct decontamination, and (2) the government of Japan should undertake on its own responsibility the health examination of the people to investigate into their internal exposure to radiation, including the measurement of urinary cesium. “This is the claim by the people in this area of their right to life,” he says.

Empathy spreads to the call, “Let us raise our voices!”
“What should we do to keep on living in the area affected by radiation?” — Dr. Nakazato Shiro, the chief of the department of radiology of Kuwano Kyoritsu Hospital and Mr. Kanomata Tatsuji, radiological technician and senior staff member of the administrative office are working as lecturers in study meetings held in different places in Koriyama City. In addition to talking in the meetings for the hospital staff or co-op members, since August, they have been invited by municipality offices, neighborhood associations, day-care centers and business entities, for whose workers Kuwano Hospital conduct health check-ups. Already they have spoken in 40 such meetings.
Dr. Nakazato is a father of a boy in a junior-high school. “As the government conducted decontamination of the schoolyard, the level of radiation dose has been lowered. But once the students are outside the school, they cannot feel at ease.” When he conducted the measurement at home, the level of radiation on the upper floor was twice as high as on the lower floor. Although he washed away the cesium on the roof with a high-pressure washing machine to decontaminate the house, his family still avoids using the children’s room on the upper floor and stays at the lower floor. “While I am concerned about my son, I want to continue to live in this area. For this, I have to face forward and do whatever I can. I want the government to take full decontamination measures as soon as possible to secure our children a safe environment.” This is his earnest desire now.
In the midst of outpouring of information about radiation damage, people’s anxieties extend all fields in their daily life. They wonder, “Can we hang our washed clothes outside?” “Is it safe to drink tap water?” or “Can we give birth to children in this area?” The government has only started to conduct health examinations on the people using a whole-body counter. However, this examination cannot measure the dose of radiation already excreted from the human body. “With the current pace, by the time people have waited for long and finally take the examination, no radiation may be detected inside their bodies and they might be diagnosed as ‘not exposed to radiation.” Every time we speak in study meetings, I call on the participants to raise their voices to demand that they should be examined urgently. I also stress the need to urge the government to disclose the facts about the level of radiation included in farming products,” Mr. Kanomata says.
In order to reduce the radiation level of the whole community, it is necessary to conduct decontamination work on all households, visiting door-to-door. But the government still has not even indicated where the radioactive rubble or mud should be discarded. It leaves the municipalities under the 20 millisievert per year range to have a free hand to take measures on this matter (as of September 2011).
It is important also to take countermeasures to avoid exposure to internal radiation through the intake of food and drink. The department of radiology of Kuwano Kyoritsu, working with the nutritionist department, is planning to make a guidebook on how to avoid internal radiation by the right method of cooking, and disseminate the recipes among the people in the community through the study meetings.

Accurate knowledge to protect human bodies from radiation
On the afternoon of September 22, Koriyama Medical Co-op invited Mr. Noguchi Kunikazu of Nihon University to hold a lecture meeting for the citizens of Koriyama, with a title, “How to protect mother and children from radiation.” In the meeting where a day nursery was set up, 170 people attended, including many mothers with small children. Mr. Noguchi showed the data indicating that the radiation dose in soils of this area, whose accumulated outer radiation level was reported to be less than 10 millisievert per year, would become less than quarter of the current level after 10 years. Regarding how to avoid radiation exposure until that time, he said that the following measures would be necessary: (1) Decontamination of the areas where citizens reside should actively be promoted. For this, the government should draw up a roadmap and decide on the final disposal site for the radiation contaminated substances; (2) Removal of radioactive substances adhered to food products. Vegetables should be chopped small and washed well. Rinsing and boiling in water could remove substantial amount of radiation on food products.

Sending out information on “what will happen if a nuclear accident takes place”
General Manager Egawa of Koriyama Co-op says, “For those in evacuation centers or living in temporary housing, severed ties between the people they have known and destroyed communities were very difficult to bear. Our staff workers, sharing the same feeling, are now forming new communities in their own workplaces and supporting with each other.” “There are some workers who had to leave Fukushima and resigned. There may be more to follow. In such an extraordinary situation, I have no intention to blame them. As for me, I am determined to stay here on this land, as long as the government gives no evacuation directive. I believe the role for me is to keep sending out the information on ‘what will happen if an accident takes place at a nuclear power plant’ to all corners of Japan.”