Futaba-machi Mayor on March 12, 2011 Explosion of Reactor 1: "Insulation Materials Falling Like Large Snowflakes. I Knew We Were Finished"

Mayor Idogawa says he knew it was the end.

Journalist Hiromichi Ugaya compiled a togetter of the press conference by the mayor of Futaba-machi on February 11, 2012.

Futaba-machi is where part of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located (Reactors 5, 6). The town's function has been moved to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture, and the mayor, Katsutaka Idogawa, is now demanding that his town of about 7,400 residents be relocated instead of "decontaminated".

Ugaya says Mayor Idogawa held three separate press conferences, one for TV, one for newspapers, and one for independent journalists. I haven't looked carefully yet, but I don't see any coverage at the websites of major newspapers.

Mayor Idogawa said:

• There was no instruction from the government as to where to evacuate, or how to evacuate.

• The town was not told of the vent, and the vent was carried out while there were lots of people still in town.

• What looked to be the insulation materials from the plant fell like snowflakes on them, and he knew they were finished.

The following is my translation of most of the remarks by Mayor Idogawa, as tweeted by Ugaya, who was at the conference:

Current situation of Futaba-machi in exile, as narrated by the journalist Ugaya:

同町は福島第1原発が町内にある「立地自治体」。町全体が立入禁止（警戒区域）になって全町民６４００人が避難。練馬区くらいの大きさの町。役場は埼玉県加須市に移転。きょう移転先役場で町長に会った。

Futaba-machi is one of the "municipalities with nuclear power plants", where Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is located. The entire town was designated as "no entry zone" and all 6400 [sic] residents have evacuated. It is the size of Nerima-ku [in Tokyo]. The town hall has relocated to Kazo City in Saitama Prefecture. I [Ugaya] met the mayor at the temporary town hall of Futaba-machi.

移転先は埼玉県加須市、生徒が減って廃校になった騎西高校をそのまま使っている。なお５００人弱の双葉町民がそのまま避難生活を続けている。そのありさまにも驚いた。アパートなど借り上げ住宅に移っていない人もまだそんなにたくさんいるのだ。

The temporary town hall is located in Kazo City, Saitama. They use the high school building that has been closed. About 500 Futaba-machi residents still live there. I am surprised. Still that many people living in the shelter, instead of living in apartments or other temporary housing arrangements.

Mayor Idogawa's recollection on the day of Reactor 1 hydrogen explosion (3/12/2011):

町民は、過去の歴史だけでなく、将来をも奪われてしまった。これはどんな価値よりも大切なものを奪われたということです。それは東京電力の補償など絶対に追いつかない

Residents of Futaba-machi have been deprived not only of their past but also of their future. They have been deprived of the most precious thing that no amount of compensation from TEPCO could buy.

「どの方向似」「何で避難する」避難指示が国や県からなかったので、役場の前の旗を見て風向きを見て逃げる方向を判断せざるをえなかった。

"Which direction?" "How do we evacuate?" There was no evacuation instruction from the national or prefectural government. So we looked at the flag in front of the town hall, figured out the wind direction, and decided which way to evacuate.

それまでの毎年の避難訓練は「電源が失われたが、３時間くらいで復旧、冷却装置が作動」というシナリオだったので、まったく役に立たなかった。

The scenario of the annual evacuation drills was "Power is lost, and recovers in about 3 hours, and the reactor cooling system comes back online". The drills were useless in the real-life accident.

町民はやむなくバラバラにマイカーで逃げるしかなかった。福島県川俣町が避難を受け入れることを決めたので、防災無線で「とにかく川俣町へ」と必死で呼びかけた。

Residents had to flee in their own cars. Kawamata-machi [northwest of Futaba-machi, just beyond Iitate-mura] had just decided to accept evacuees, so we used the emergency communication system and called out desperately to the residents to somehow go to Kawamata-machi.

政府が決めた「ベント」も何の予告もなかった。町民が真下にまだいるのに、ベントが行われた。自分たちを日本国民と思っているのか。まるで明治維新の前からそのままではないか。

We weren't told of the "vent" [of Reactor 1] that the government decided to do. The vent was carried out while the residents were still in town. I wonder if they [the government] think of us as Japanese citizens. This is like pre-Meiji Restoration [when there was no notion of citizens of a nation].

１２日、町民が脱出するなか、双葉厚生病院の前で入院者や近くの老人ホームのお年寄りをバスに乗せる誘導をしていたら、最初の水素爆発が起きた。「ズン」という鈍い音がした。

On March 12, as the residents were fleeing, I was in front of Futaba Kosei Hospital guiding the hospital patients and elderly people from the nearby senior citizens' home to a bus [for evacuation] when the first hydrogen explosion took place. There was a dull "thud".

「ああ、とうとう起きてしまった」と町長は思った。数分して、断熱材（グラスファイバー）のような破片がぼたん雪のように降ってきた。「大きなものはこれぐらいあった」と町長は親指と人差し指でマルをつくった。

"Oh no, it finally happened," the mayor thought. After a few minutes, small debris that looked like glass fiber insulation materials came falling down from the sky like large snowflakes. "Big ones were this big", the mayor puts his thumb and index finger together to form a circle.

双葉厚生病院は福島第1原発から２キロしか離れていない。雪のように断熱材（？）の破片が降るのを、３００人くらいの町職員や医師、看護師らが呆然と見つめた。町長は「これでもう終わった」と思った。

Futaba Kosei Hospital is only 2 kilometers away from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. About 300 people, including municipal workers, doctors and nurses, watched the flakes of insulation materials fall like snow, stunned. The mayor thought, "We're finished."

福島第1原発から断熱材（？）が雪のように降り注ぐ光景を、町長は「それはそれは不思議な光景だった」と振り返る。「そういう映画にでも出てきそうな光景だった」。なすすべもなく、服についた「チリ」を手で払い落とすしかなかった。

The mayor looks back and says, "That was a very, very strange sight. It was like a movie". Not knowing what to do, he just dusted off his clothes with his hand.

The sight of some filament falling from the sky, shining, was also seen by people in Iitate-mura, and Namie-machi.

About "We're finished" remark and the mayor's health:

そうした「福島第1原発からのチリ」を浴びた町長に「それは危険なものだという認識はあったのですか」と問うと「今でも『もう終わった』と思っている」と応えた。「それはどういう意味ですか」と問い返すと「鼻血がとまらない」と言った。

I [Ugaya] asked the mayor who was doused with "dust from Fukushima I Nuke Plant", "Did you think it was dangerous?" He answered, "Even today, I think "We're finished"." "What do you mean?" I asked. He said "Nosebleed hasn't stopped."

「ずっと鼻血がとまらない。鼻をかむと今でも血が出る。たらたら垂れることもある。もう乾燥しているんだかなんだかわからない」

"Nosebleed hasn't stopped. If I blow my nose it bleeds. Sometimes the blood drips. I don't know what's going on, whether the nose is too dry."

「胸から下、すね毛まで毛が抜けてつるつるになった」「銭湯で隣に座ったじいさんが『おい、女みたいにすべすべになっているぞ』というので気づいた」「陰毛だけは大丈夫だった」「体毛がないと肌着がくっついて気持ちが悪い」

"Ive lost almost all body hair from chest down, all the way down to the legs. I noticed it when an old man sitting next to me in "sento" (public bath) said to me, "Hey your skin's smooth like a woman." Pubic hair remains. It's uncomfortable without body hair, because my underwear clings to the skin."

About TEPCO employees who came to Futaba-machi town hall:

３月１１日直後から東電の職員は２人が町役場に来ていた。ふだんから担当している広報課の職員だ。しかしメルトダウンや水素爆発の情報は何も教えてくれなかった。今から思うと顔面蒼白で、知っていたのかもしれない。

Since the accident started on March 11, there were 2 TEPCO employees at the town hall. They were the regular PR department personnel. But they didn't tell us anything about meltdown or hydrogen explosion. In retrospect, the color was drained from their faces. They may have known something [about meltdown and hydrogen explosion].

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