Fukushima evacuees to be compensated for emotional damage (JAPAN)

People evacuated or forced to stay in their homes because of the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant will be compensated for their mental suffering, a government panel has decided.

A new set of guidelines, to be drawn up by the end of May, will stipulate different mental distress payments according to where people have been accommodated. The thinking appears to be that different types of accommodation entail different degrees of stress.

For example, the draft guidelines say that staying in a gymnasium is free but causes the largest amount of stress. The specific compensation amounts to be attached to different types of accommodation have not yet been decided.

Evacuees will also be able to file claims for transportation and accommodation costs incurred following their evacuation. Food and other living expenses will be lumped in with the calculations for emotional damage because they are thought to vary little between individuals.

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105170430.html

Orphans, other quake victims to get cash

The Yomiuri Shimbun

The Miyagi prefectural government will give 500,000 yen to each child whose parents died in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, using donations it has received in the wake of the disaster, prefectural officials said.

The decision reflects the local government's view that it is necessary to give such children special consideration, according to the officials.

The local government also decided to give 100,000 yen each to about 900 people suffering from serious physical impediments due to the disaster, including those who lost their eyesight or require full-time nursing care.

The decision was made Monday during a meeting of the committee set up by the prefectural government to decide how to allocate about 12 billion yen in donations received from people and organizations nationwide after the March 11 earthquake.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110517005960.htm

Govt wants shelters closed by Sept.

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Debris left by the Great East Japan Earthquake is to be cleared and emergency evacuation centers closed by the end of August, according to a draft government plan to support disaster survivors.

Programs focused on in the draft plan are to be launched within the coming three months, and target dates for completion are also specified, according to sources.

The plan will be officially approved at Friday's meeting of the government's Emergency Disaster Response Headquarters, headed by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the sources said.

Titled "Policy on immediate measures to be taken toward normalization of people's lives in areas hit by the great earthquake," it groups steps for reconstructing survivors' daily lives into eight categories, such as "improvement of living conditions at evacuation centers," "administrative services including health and medical care" and "disposal of debris."

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110517005146.htm

Today's lesson: you can't buy your way out of a nuclear disaster....