The Japanese government is debating whether to expand the evacuation zone around the Fukushima power plant, where water radiation is now 10,000 times higher than the norm. The evacuation area is currently 20 kilometers around the plant.
The authorities insist the measure to expand the evacuation zone is not because of health risks. Science experts, however, are painting a completely different picture.
“There's been high levels of radiation detected out of the 20 km limit already. When you have radiation on that level, in a week or two you'll have people that are experiencing the radiation exposure of nuclear plant workers over the course of their career,” Dr. Robert Jacobs from the Hiroshima Peace Institute explains. “And these are people in a situation when there's been an earthquake, there's been a tsunami, there's a shortage of food and water. So these people should not be alone to remain in such an exposure area.”
Because of the conflicting information people are receiving from various sources, the issue of who to trust has become prevalent in Japan.
“People saw the explosion again and again on television and the government won't tell you for many hours what the hell is going on,” a member of the Liberal Democratic Party Diet Taro Kono told RT. “So the government should have been releasing information timely. They should tell you what's really happening. Now people are wondering if the government is telling you true stories.”
At this point, the Japanese government is encouraging people to leave the territory voluntarily, Kyodo news agency quoted Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano as saying.
Edano cited a shortage of basic supplies as the reason for the voluntarily relocation.
''The distribution of goods is stalled, and it is rather difficult to maintain daily living over a long period of time,'' he told a news conference.
Yukio Edano added that the government will provide logistical assistance, transport and facilities for those moving further away from the troubled area.
The government asked municipal services to prepare for a possible immediate evacuation of the citizens still staying in the area, should the necessity arise.
In the first set of measures adopted shortly after the first blasts at the Fukushima facilities, the Japanese government ordered the evacuation of people living within 20 kilometers of the plant. Those living further in a 30 kilometer radius were advised to remain indoors.
However, the latter have recently been experiencing increasing shortages in the supply of basic goods and food, as delivery companies are shunning the area for fear of radiation.
Jan Haverkamp, an atomic power expert for Greenpeace, believes that the government's advice to those living close to the evacuation zone to voluntarily leave their homes has come too late.
“Several organizations in Japan, including Greenpeace, already called on Sunday on the authorities to give this advice,” he told RT. “The authorities also gave this advice earlier [but] the advice is now stronger, because the chance that larger amounts of radiation could come out are still there, and people have been in their houses already for two weeks.”
Haverkamp notes that it is, perhaps, time to start slowly comparing the Fukushima disaster with what happened in Chernobyl.
“There are already calls for registering this as a [level] 7 event,” he said.
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