| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and subsequent tsunami that occurred in March 2011 resulted in a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), which is affiliated with the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). Although the disaster is not catalysed by climate change completely but it casted similar issues to human society and prompted reflections to the path of human development. We choose Minamisoma City, located 14-38 km north of FDNPP, as a study area. It is one of the cities most severely affected by the nuclear explosion. 42 percent of the evacuees from Fukushima Prefecture were residents of this city. Three years after the triple disasters the affected area is undergoing recovery. We have conducted fieldworks to the city. We found that reconstruction efforts in the radiation-contaminated area are not progressing as quickly as those in areas that were only affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Three obstacles are hampering the reconstruction. The first one concerns the outmigration of residents and aging of the population. The second one is the delays in decontamination. Major industries were affected following the Fukushima accident. The third one is the long-term symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress of residents, specially the evacuees. This research was about one year. We have published one journal paper on "Radiation-Driven Migration: The Case of Minamisoma City, Fukushima, Japan, after the Fukushima Nuclear Accident", International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health vol. 11(9), 9286-9305.
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