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S010-1

Manifold Effects on Children: Restoration Process and Emergent Problems in
the Aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Radiation
Accident

Hisako Watanabe

Vice President, Life Development Center, Watanabe Clinic ,Yokohama, Japan

Content: The Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March 2011 massively destroyed the coastal
communities of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures, yielding diverse trauma and loss. The
extent and quality of damage vary according to the nature and geography of the sites. In Iwate and
Miyagi, the natural disasters of earthquake and tsunami have urged people to unite in grief and toil,
while in Fukushima, the natural and man-made complex disasters have fragmented the whole
community through unresolvable radiation emergency following the nuclear accident. Now into the
fifth year of the aftermath, the inland cities of Fukushima, such as Koriyama which efficiently
prevented PTSD in children by the Koriyama Post-Disaster Child Care Project progress into a second
stage of child support, mainly reviving a healthier life to decrease obesity and inertia. On the other
hand, the plight of children exposed to high levels of radiation in villages such as Iidate is
extremely critical as only little information is available to them and the outside world and no
substantial national support for aftercare is forthcoming. The children of Iidate Villge cannot return
to their homes in still highly radiation contaminated countryside, and all socioeconomic support
will be withdrawn in less than two years, rendering them to be forgotten and scattered all over
Japan without any proper follow- up. Small yet powerful groups of parents and grandparents in
Fukushima persevere now in fierce existential struggles to protect themselves and the rights of their
children.

Reference: Anand Grover Human Rights Council : Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of
Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health,
Mission to Japan (15-26 November 2012), 23rd session, 41/Add.3 United Nations, General
Assembly. 2013 http://daccess-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G13/160/74/PDF/G1316074.pdf