2018 Volume 67 Issue 1 Pages 2-10
Off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake and subsequent Fukushima nuclear accident attacked Japan on March 11, 2011. The complex disaster with an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster severely damaged and destroyed human life, properties, natural resources and the environment. Mandatory evacuation was ordered after the accident, and loss of the cooling system for safety of the public from the nuclear reactor in the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. This order disturbed the usual daily life of the Fukushima residents and caused an inconvenient situation for a long-time due to the lack of a link to their local community. We tried to discuss various issues regarding the public health activities in response to the Fukushima disaster in this special issue as follows.
Countermeasures: 1) emergency response to the natural disaster, to mitigate the radiation exposure due to the nuclear accident, 2) medium- to long-term support for secondary health risks and 3) educational activities of radiation health risks on humans and care of mental health issues due to anxiety of radiation exposure. All were implemented by various efforts with the cooperation among national and local politicians, residents, suppliers, distributors and so on. The World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) consulted on the response to the Fukushima situations. Although the Fukushima accident was the second worst nuclear accident in the history of nuclear power generation, radiation doses are limited among Fukushima residents and emergency responders who were apparently not exposed to radiation doses higher than the threshold for induction of acute radiation syndromes. In order to control food contamination, provisional regulation values (PRV) were set during radiological emergency situations. Food monitoring and restriction were conducted to protect internal radiation exposure from contaminated food. The Fukushima Health Management Survey was carried out to take care of and to support the health of the Fukushima residents. As a part of this survey, some issues regarding thyroid monitoring and a medium- to long-term secondary health risks still remained. Furthermore, we mention disaster management laws and systems, and the role of the emergency management cycle according to each phase.
With all these matters in mind, we overview the Fukushima accident as a brief introduction to this special issue.
