Japan’s government found liable for Fukushima disaster

A court in Japan on Friday ruled that Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) and the government are liable for negligence in a case involving compensation for the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, the first time the judiciary has ruled the state has liability, Japanese media has reported.

According to reports, the district court in Maebashi, north of Tokyo, ruled in favour of 137 evacuees seeking damages for the emotional distress of fleeing their homes as radiation spread following the meltdowns at Tepco's Fukushima Daiichi plant after an earthquake and tsunami.

While courts have ruled in favour of plaintiffs and awarded damages arising from the disaster, it was the first time a court has recognised that the government was liable.

Tepco has long been criticised for ignoring the threat posed by natural disasters to the Fukushima plant and both the company and government were lambasted for their handling of the crisis.

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Tepco said in a statement it would review the contents of the ruling before making a response.

Costs

In December, the government nearly doubled its projections for costs related to the disaster to 21.5 trillion yen (about €175 billion).

In the world’s worst nuclear calamity since Chernobyl in 1986, three reactors at Tepco’s Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns after a 9-magnitude earthquake in March 2011 triggered a tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan’s northeastern coastline and killed more than 15,000 people.

Reuters