Post-tsunami deaths outnumber disaster toll in Fukushima
Health complications stemming from Japan’s 2011 tsunami have killed more people in one Japanese region than the disaster itself, the local authority said.
日本2011年海嘯災難造成的健康並發癥,在日本一個地區的致死人數已超過災難本身,地方當局指出。
Data compiled by officials and police show that almost three years after the huge waves smashed ashore, 1,656 people living in Fukushima prefecture have died from stress and other illnesses related to the disaster, compared with 1,607 who were killed in the initial calamity.
Along with the prefectures of Miyagi and Iwate, Fukushima was one of the worst hit parts of Japan when a huge 9.0 undersea earthquake sent a wall of water barrelling into the coast.
當9.0海底大地震引發吞噬海岸的水墻時,除宮城縣與巖手縣外,福島是日本受創最嚴重的地區之一。
The waves swept more than 18,000 people to their deaths across the country, and destroyed entire communities.
巨浪摧枯拉朽,造成全日本逾1萬8000人喪生,並摧毀整個社區。
Fukushima was also hit with the resulting nuclear disaster after cooling systems at the Daiichi nuclear plant were knocked out, sending reactors into meltdown and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
福島也受到第一核電廠冷卻系統停擺後導致的核災衝擊,該事故造成反應爐熔解,數萬人被迫疏散。
Almost three years on, many people remain displaced, whether because their homes around the power plant have not been declared safe or because rebuilding along the coast has been slow.(AFP)