Local News

Genkai Drill Raises Concerns About Preparedness

On Jan. 24 a tri-prefecture disaster prevention drill held at the Genkai Nuclear Power Plant in Genkai Town, Saga Prefecture went off without a hitch, but some local residents feel the prefectures’ plans in the event of an actual disaster are not thorough enough. The number of participants in the drill was only a fraction of the approximately 270,000 residents of Saga, Fukuoka and Nagasaki prefectures who live within the 30km radius of the plant, so many feel an actual evacuation would not go as smoothly. As part of the drill, the Self Defense Forces assisted in an evacuation of a convalescent home just 3km from the plant. “Only 10 of the 100 residents here can walk on their own accord. If we staff have to evacuate them on our own, it would be impossible,” admitted a staff member. Meanwhile, the island city of Iki (Nagasaki Prefecture) has formulated a plan in which the most extreme option is an evacuation of all residents to Fukuoka Prefecture, but actual evacuation shelter sites have not been determined. A particularly vexing issue is traffic. Karatsu City’s disaster plan calls for residents to evacuate in their own vehicles, but one local residents worried about “traffic jams delaying the evacuation.” Ahead of the power plant’s resumption, many issues appear to remain. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun 1/25

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Category
Environment
Published: Jan 29, 2015 / Last Updated: Apr 1, 2016

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