More than 40 people are refusing to leave the 20-km evacuation zone set up around the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, it was learned Monday.
According to 10 municipalities around the plant, there are 27 people in Minamisoma, 10 in Naraha, two in Kawauchi and one in Katsurao.
It is also believed that there is more than one person each in the towns of Tamura and Namie.
"We have tried to persuade them, but the evacuation order doesn't have coercive power," said an official at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
"There are concerns about the supply of daily goods for them. Support may be needed for those staying there," the NISA official said.