Photo/Illutration Residents offer silent prayers for victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami near the coast in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on March 11, the 12th anniversary of the disaster. (Shinnosuke Ito)

Fukushima Prefecture has recorded a cumulative 2,335 “disaster-related” deaths from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, by far the largest figure among the three hardest-hit prefectures in the Tohoku region.

Disaster-related deaths are those caused by worsening injuries suffered during the disaster or illnesses developed during prolonged periods in evacuation.

Data released by the three prefectures showed that as of February, the total number of official disaster-related deaths was 470 in Iwate Prefecture and 931 in Miyagi Prefecture.

The Reconstruction Agency’s latest report on the subject, compiled in March 2022, found that more than 90 percent of disaster-related deaths in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures occurred within a year after the disaster struck on March 11, 2011.

But in Fukushima Prefecture, 40 percent of the disaster-related deaths occurred in or after the second year.

The agency’s data also showed that over the five years through March 10, 2022, Iwate Prefecture reported five disaster-related deaths, while Miyagi Prefecture had zero deaths.

The figure for Fukushima Prefecture over that period was 72.

A key factor contributing to the high death toll in Fukushima Prefecture is the prolonged displacement of evacuees who fled the triple meltdown at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Shunji Sekine, a doctor who treats evacuees in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, said the physical and mental health of displaced people continues to deteriorate while they are living in evacuation.

“My patients’ health is worsening because their lifestyle has become static due to a lack of opportunities to move around at the evacuation site and a lack of prospects for their eventual return to their hometowns and for the future,” he said.

According to the agency and other sources, the number of Fukushima Prefecture residents who were living as evacuees in and outside the prefecture totaled 27,399 as of February.

In comparison, Iwate Prefecture reported 887 evacuees.

Miyagi authorities reported 1,221 evacuees, but the figure excluded those who were displaced within the prefecture.

Residents in up to 12 municipalities in Fukushima Prefecture were ordered at one point to flee after the crisis unfolded at the plant.

Twelve years on, evacuation orders still apply to areas within the jurisdictions of seven local governments.

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