FUKUSHIMA — More than one in four residents of areas designated as evacuation or evacuation preparation zones around the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant say they have no intention of returning to their neighborhoods, a survey has shown.
Fuminori Tanba, an associate professor at Fukushima University’s disaster recovery research institute, surveyed all residents of eight towns and villages in the Futaba district of Fukushima Prefecture designated as no-entry or evacuation preparation zones.
With the cooperation of the eight municipal governments, Tanba sent questionnaires to 28,184 households in September, asking the heads of the households to send their replies. Of them, 13,463, or 47.8 percent responded.
Of all the respondents, 26.9 percent said they have no intention of returning to their neighborhoods. By age, 52.3 percent of those aged up to 34 and 13.1 percent of elderly people aged in their 80s and above said they do not want to go back to their original places of residence.
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