Nearly six years after Noriko Matsumoto and her children fled Fukushima Prefecture, fearing for their health from the nuclear disaster, they are confronted by a new potential hardship — the slashing of vital housing subsidies.
Matsumoto is among nearly 27,000 people who left areas not designated as mandatory evacuation zones, spooked by high levels of radiation after reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 plant unleashed by the powerful earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011.
Now, as the Fukushima Prefectural Government prepares to slash unconditional housing assistance on March 31, many face the painful choice of returning to areas they still fear are unsafe, or reconciling themselves to financial hardship, especially families scattered across different sites, such as Matsumoto's.