#Radiation: Japanese Government Orders All Iitate Villagers to Evacuate Within 1 Month

Sankei Shinbun (12:07PM JST 4/11/2011) reports:

　東京電力福島第１原発の事故で、高い放射線量の数値が続いている福島県飯舘村に対し、政府が避難指示区域の拡大に備え、期間を設けて計画的に村民を避難させるよう要請したことが１１日、分かった。飯舘村が明らかにした。

Iitate Village disclosed on April 11 that the national government ordered the village to systematically evacuate the villagers in anticipation for the expansion of the evacuation zone. Iitate Village in Fukushima Prefecture has had high radiation levels ever since the TEPCO's Fukushima I Nuclear Plant accident.

　門馬伸市副村長は村議会災害対策特別委員会で「原則（村民）全員に避難してもらう。国は１カ月以内を目安に避難させてほしいとしている」と話した。

The village chief [actually he is the vice chief], Shinichi Monma said in the village council's special committee for disaster measures, "All villagers will be evacuated. The national government has told us to evacuate within a month."

Iitate Village's population is about 6,500. Already, about 1,000 villagers have evacuated voluntarily (i.e. without government order).

No information on how long the evacuation lasts, or where they are supposed to go. To the villagers, it may mean the end of their community that has lasted more than several hundred years if not a thousand or more.

A picture of Iitate Village from their website:

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