Woman in Her 50s Dies Inside the No-Entry Zone in #Fukushima Prefecture

There is no information whether she was the former resident of Namie-machi, but I think it is likely.

From Kyodo News (3/20/2012):

警戒区域入った女性死亡　福島県浪江町

A woman who entered the no-entry zone died in Namie-machi, Fukushima

　２０日午前１１時ごろ、東京電力福島第１原発事故の警戒区域に指定されている福島県浪江町で、重機を区域外に持ち出すために許可を受けて入域していた５０代の女性が倒れたと１１９番があった。女性は救急車で同県南相馬市の病院に搬送されたが、午後１時に死亡が確認された。

At 11AM on March 20, there was a 119 call [equivalent of the US 911 call, for ambulance for medical emergency] that a woman in her 50s collapsed in Namie-machi in Fukushima Prefecture. Namie-machi is designated as "no-entry zone". The woman entered with a permit to remove heavy equipment out of the zone. She was transported in an ambulance to a hospital in Minami Soma City, but confirmed dead at 1PM.

　政府の原子力災害現地対策本部によると、原発作業員を除けば、警戒区域に立ち入った人が死亡するのは初めて。

According to the local headquarters for the nuclear emergency response, it is the first time someone other than the plant workers died inside the no-entry zone.

　同本部によると、女性は同僚数人と事業者向けの立ち入り許可を受けて入域。急に「気分が悪い」と訴えてトイレに入り意識を失ったという。

According to the headquarters, the woman entered the zone with her colleagues with a permit issued to businesses. She suddenly fell ill, and went to the bathroom, where she lost consciousness and collapsed.

Two questions:

1. Why were they allowed to remove the equipment out of the no-entry zone to begin with? After more than one year, don't they and the government know there are such things as radiation contamination?

2. Why would they allow a woman to enter the no-entry zone?

Equal rights for women, I suppose. Since TEPCO is bringing female workers back to Fukushima I Nuke Plant, why not?

Namie-machi had extremely high levels of radiation in the first 2 weeks of the accident, and the residents weren't told about it until months later. Asahi's "Trap of Prometheus" says the Ministry of Education was measuring the radiation level in Akogi District of Namie-machi on March 15, 2011, and it was 330 microsieverts/hour air radiation. That would be over 55 millisieverts in one week, and there were people who remained in Namie-machi for more than a week, lulled by then Cabinet Secretary Edano's word that "there is no immediate effect on health".

Let's see, how would people like Dr. Yamashita and Dr. Kimura going to explain the death?

She had a feminine stress.
She had an autoimmune disease.
She didn't smile enough.
She drank and smoked too much.
Pure coincidence. There is no way that radiation affect anyone this fast.

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