Kyodan Tohoku District Nuclear Disaster Relief Task Force “IZUMI,” the office that Tohoku District set up to deal with radiation issues, had its opening ceremony on Nov. 1, 2013. We listened to a lecture about nuclear power generation and how, in the process of producing electricity, poisonous radioactive waste is also produced, for which disposal and treatment methods are still undecided.
The following day, I journeyed south through the Hamadori section of Fukushima to visit the churches. I was guided from the tsunami-stricken area of Arahama to the churches in the radiation contamination zones, all the while thinking how shameful it is that urban areas using electricity have forced this problem onto Fukushima. As I watched the huge dump trucks destined for reconstruction projects lumbering along the damaged roads and saw signs stating “under decontamination” posted in yards, parks, and fields, I was further reminded of the scale of the disaster. Contaminated soil that had been scraped off was put in large black bags and piled up in fields that would have been ripe with harvest and then covered with plastic to keep off the rain. At every church we visited along the way, there were nursery school and kindergarten facilities, and these were to be places of mission and outreach. They were supposed to be places where children and their parents and guardians would be directly exposed to the gospel message. But the effect of radiation from the nuclear accident becomes the focus of attention in places such as these, which concentrate on children, and casts a pall on their future. For instance, in regards to drinking water, divisions between people arise if some parents think it better not to drink tap water while others think it is not dangerous now. Town official want to emphasize that it is now safe, so if the kindergarten provides bottled water, they are not happy about that.
Likewise, some people receive compensation while others do not, and numerous other factors caused by the nuclear accident subvert harmonious relationships in the community. These include divisions between nuclear plant workers and temporary workers coming in now to deal with the situation, people who have been forced to move into temporary housing and other local people. Local governments, industries, educational institutions, medical facilities and society as a whole have all been seriously affected. And standing there beside the confused adults are the anxious children, with their world turned upside down. These children should be our first priority, as they are the ones who have been the most victimized. (Tr. KY)
—Nagasaki Tetsuo, general secretary
総幹事室より
「総幹事談話」（新報より）
11月1日、東北教 区の放射能問題支援対策室「いずみ」の開所式で、「原発は電気も産むが、同時に未だその処分方法が決まらぬ能動的毒物とも言われる 『放射能』を排出するとの講演を聞いた。都会がその電気を使い、福島にそれを押し付けた慙悸の思い あり。翌日2日、案内されて津波被災地の荒浜から放射能汚染地に立つ教会の問安に浜通りを南下する。復興工事の大型ダンプカーが行き交う荒れた道にあの日の被 害の膨大さを見、次第に家・公園・田畑に「除染中」の立札が林立。除洗土は、黒い袋に包まれて本来秋の実り豊かな農地や丘陵 に直（じか）に置かれ、その上を雨よけビニール・シートがかかる。行き着いたそれぞれの教会に大きく立派な保育園と幼稚園が あった。見る限り、其処は地域伝道の一大拠点。福音は先ず集まる子どもらと保護者と地域に向かってダイレクトに届けられる筈だ。だが、放射能事故は正に此処に集約され、「子ども」の肉体 を直接蝕み、将来に不安をかき立てる。「飲み水」一つ挙げる。保護者に水道水を飲めぬ人がいれば、冷たい視線をあびなければならない。水道水の汚染の危険、または安全性を認めるか認めないか、という 見解の相違からくるものだ。それのみか、園が遣うペットボトルを公は喜ばぬ。町は安全と強調したいのだ。其処には保証金を得た人と得 ぬ人。原発勤務者と労務者の家族。仮設への移住を強いられた人の現実と地元の人々の言い分。 行政・企業・教育・医療・社会の全部が割れる。その混乱 に揺れる大人の傍に子らはたたずむ。それ自体が彼らの通常を覆すのだ。事故は、先ず子どもを犠牲にしたことに大人は気づくべき だ。長崎哲夫
