NHK interviewed approx. 600 people who are currently staying at evacuation centres in the most damaged areas including Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima on April 11, which is exactly 1 month after the East Japan Disaster. Approx. 70% have lost their job or have not been able to get back to their work after the disaster. 3 out of 4 victims have not been able to return to their job.
The details are as follows:
Employed 11% (dismissal) 34% (layoff)
Self-Employed 4% (permanently closed) 23% (unoperational)
A 70-year-old man in Miyagi says ‘I don’t know how to make a living after leaving the evacuation centre’. A 49-year-old fisherman in Iwate who lost his boat due to the tsunami says ‘I am too old to start a new career. I will have to start from scratch’. A 40 year-old-woman whose husband also lost his job says “It was good that all our family survived but we cannot see positives for our future. I wonder if it was really a good thing to survive”.
(NHK Twitter on 11 April 2011)
