Japan evacuees berate nuclear firm head

TOKYO—Japanese families forced to flee their homes by radiation leaks from a tsunami-hit nuclear power plant on Friday angrily berated the head of the plant operator as he apologized for the disaster.

“When can we go home?” one emotional evacuee demanded as Masataka Shimizu, head of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), bowed deeply in apology during a visit to dozens of people living in an evacuation centre in Koriyama, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the plant.

“TEPCO has always said ‘It’s all right, it’s all right.’ Now what is it all right about?” one elderly woman asked him in footage shown on the TV Asahi network.

Another demanded: “You’ve got to bring it back to normal as soon as possible.”

One man sat on his chair with arms crossed, angrily ignoring Shimizu and other TEPCO officials as they knelt at his feet apologising.

For more than a month the families, like many others, have been living in a public hall with their few possessions, their spaces on the floor marked out by low cardboard walls to give them a little privacy.

More than 85,000 people are living in emergency shelters after being forced to evacuate from their homes near the Fukushima Daiichi power plant which was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The plant, where reactor cooling systems were knocked out, has been hit by a series of explosions and fires and radiation has leaked into the air, ground and sea in the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl 25 years ago.

Shimizu earlier Friday met with Fukushima governor Yuhei Sato who also vented his anger at the TEPCO head in front of journalists and television crews.

“Do you really understand how the (evacuated) people are feeling hungry and feeling bitter?” he told Shimizu, whom he had previously refused to meet with.

“We deeply apologise for causing the serious accident and causing trouble both physically and mentally to the people who have already been stricken by the natural disaster,” Shimizu said, bowing his head to show his remorse in his apology to Sato, governor of tsunami-ravaged Fukishima prefecture.

With tears in his eyes, Sato showed him newspaper articles about some 6,000 children who have been forced to flee homes which they may not be able to return to for years.

“They have been scattered across the nation but they want to come home as early as possible. Do you understand how they feel?” he said, insisting that the plant should never reopen.

Shimizu said TEPCO would try to comply with requests for compensation.

“We will do our utmost to bring the nuclear plant accident under control and help the people return to normal life as soon as possible,” he said.

A sombre Shimizu told reporters after the meeting: “I must heed the judgement of the local people.”