Six months after the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated the Tohoku Pacific coastal areas on March 11, people there are continuing to rebuild together their lives. In Fukushima Prefecture, people have suffered not only from the natural disasters but also from the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
Those who have not been directly affected by these catastrophes, in particular politicians, should never underestimate or make light of the suffering and sorrow of those who have been directly impacted in Tohoku. The government must do its utmost to accelerate the reconstruction from the triple disasters.
The quake and tsunami left 15,788 people dead and 4,057 others missing. By the end of August, police inspections of 15,689 corpses in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures determined that drowning had caused 90.5 percent of the deaths, injuries, including crushing, had caused 4.5 percent of the deaths and fires 1 percent.