nuclear-news

Nagasaki citizen’s group prays for survivors of Fukushima nuclear disaster

Citizen’s group members form a human chain in front of the hypocenter cenotaph during an event to pray for the restoration of Fukushima, hit by the 2011 meltdowns of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, at the Hypocenter Park in the city of Nagasaki, on March 11, 2020

March 13, 2020

NAGASAKI — A citizen’s group in this southwestern Japan city destroyed by the 1945 U.S. atomic bombing held an event to pray for no more nuclear tragedies on March 11, the day of the meltdowns at the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

A total of 15 participants, including atomic bomb survivors and high school students, gathered at the Nagasaki Hypocenter Park and offered a silent prayer at 2:46 p.m., the exact time the Great East Japan Earthquake struck, and formed a human chain in front of the hypocenter cenotaph.

The group was organized in 2013 and has interacted with people in Fukushima, which still struggles to recover from the nuclear disaster, to offer support from an area that has experienced the devastating destruction of nuclear weapons. Atomic bomb survivors and second-generation members have visited Fukushima and invited locals to visit Nagasaki for a lecture event.

Hiroko Sakaguchi, 70, a second-generation atomic bomb survivor, gave a speech at the March 11 event. “Many people still cannot return to their hometowns due to the nuclear accident. Even if buildings are rebuilt, that doesn’t mean real restoration. The disaster is still continuing there,” she said.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200312/p2a/00m/0na/020000c

March 20, 2020 - Posted by dunrenard | Fukushima 2020 | Fukushima Victims, Nagasaki solidarity