Japan govt, Fukushima operator told to pay over nuclear disaster

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A court in Japan has awarded nearly 4 million U.S.dollars in new damages to 152 residents forced to flee their houses after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown eight years ago, the world's most serious nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

The Yokohama district court on Wednesday ordered the government and Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) to pay 419.6 million yen (3.8 million U.S. dollars) to the residents, a court spokeswoman said. The verdict was the fifth time the government has been ruled liable for the disaster in eastern Japan.

Triggered by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake, the tsunami overwhelmed reactor cooling systems, sending three into meltdown and sending radiation over a large area.

A guard gestures at a checkpoint exit from the exclusion zone of Futaba town, Fukushima, March 5, 2018. / VCG Photo

Nearly 19,000 people were killed or went missing and 160,000 lost their homes and livelihoods in the massive earthquake and tsunami.

Presiding judge Ken Nakadaira said the government and TEPCO "could have avoided the accident if they had taken measures" against the tsunami that sparked the disaster, according to public broadcaster NHK.

In March last year, a court in Kyoto, western Japan, ruled both the government and TEPCO were responsible and ordered them to pay 110 million yen (0.99 million U.S.dollars) to 110 residents.

Plaintiffs suing the state and TEPCO, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, over the 2011 nuclear crisis, enter the Fukushima District Court in Fukushima on October 10, 2017. /VCG Photo

However, in a separate case in September 2017 in Chiba near Tokyo, the court ruled that only the operator was liable. Around 12,000 people who fled after the disaster due to radiation fears have filed various lawsuits against the government and TEPCO.

Cases have revolved around whether the government and TEPCO, both of whom are responsible for disaster prevention measures, could have foreseen the scale of the tsunami and subsequent meltdown. Dozens of class-action lawsuits have been filed seeking compensation from the government.

(Cover image: Plaintiffs hold up signs in front of the Fukushima District Court in Fukushima on October 10, 2017. / VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP