​​​Located near the city of Fukushima, some 50 km northwest of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the city of Date has a population of 62,000, about the same as that of Minamisoma.

Mayor Shoji Nishida, 66 years old at the time of the accident, recalls the unusual strength of the earthquake on the afternoon of March 11, 2011: “It was a very powerful tremor. Of course, earthquakes did not come as a particular surprise to us, but we understood immediately that this was something we had never experienced before. The incredibly violent tremors were never-ending. We had no electricity anymore, and many services were disrupted. Municipal employees were sent to various parts of the city to assess the situation, and to provide shelter to people whose homes had collapsed or been significantly damaged. Two elementary schools had also collapsed. It was all hands on deck throughout the night.”

About ten days after the mega-quake and the accident at the nuclear plant, the dose rate information received by the city showed that the radioactive plume had reached the city.

Shoji Nishida, close associate Takahiro Hanzawa, and the entire municipal staff worked day and night in rescue efforts and distributing food and drinking water to Date's residents. They were faced with unprecedented tasks: decontamination, radiation testing among residents, emergency housing for evacuees arriving in droves, mainly from Minamisoma, and the list went on. ​​​​​​

Shoji Nishida, mayor of Date
Honestly, before this accident, we didn't have the faintest idea what “radiation protection” was. We knew that radioactivity had harmful effects on health, but we didn’t know to what extent or the countermeasures to be implemented. Now we have all learned about these notions, we all know the risks associated with ionizing radiation and what to do to protect ourselves.

​Takahiro Hanzawa, close associate of the mayor of Date
​Once again, we saw firsthand the importance of interpersonal relationships. I think we all share the feeling that it’s up to us to restore our cities because we built them ourselves. I think we all agree that our land is something that we must protect and cultivate ourselves. By placing great importance on each person’s opinion, I am sure that we can make this a better place, even better than before the catastrophe, in all senses of the word.

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Leadership and responsiveness

Based on measurement results, the mayor of Date launched a decontamination program starting with the school playgrounds and extending to the most contaminated land within the city limits.

For operations carried out in schools, the mayor was assisted and advised by his acquaintance Dr. Shunichi Tanaka, at that time president of the non-profit Japan Nuclear Safety Forum and currently chairman of the Japanese Nuclear Regulation Authority. He was also actively supported by parent-teacher associations (PTAs). With a keen sense of commitment, Mayor Shoji Nishida provided funding - to the tune of one billion yen (around 7.5 million euros) - for the purchase of items including personal dosimeters and air conditioners for the schools, to help the students cope with the sweltering heat of summer in Japan with the windows closed.

This was supplemented by different measures aiming to protect the children, such as shuttle buses to reduce exposure during trips between the home and school and summer classes where the children could play outside as they usually do, in the beautiful countryside.​

Using their own process and facilities to carry out remediation work, civil engineering teams, with the help of volunteers, proceeded to scrape off the upper layers of soil.

As decontamination work progressed, the bags full of contaminated soil piled up, awaiting storage. The mayor thus decided to create temporary storage areas called kariokiba in Japanese, with the utmost transparency for residents.

“Convincing them was not always easy,” Mayor Nishida admitted, “but we managed to do it!” Shouldering some of the burden, the municipality decided to create one storage site right next to the city hall.

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CHILDREN FIRST

Date launched decontamination works in the playground and pool of Tominari Elementary School just a few weeks after the accident at the nuclear power plant.

Making decontamination of a school the top priority was a testament to the local administration’s desire to meet the expectations of parents and teachers worried about the impact of banning outdoor activities on children’s health. With the help of Dr. Shunichi Tanaka, his right hand Junichiro Tada, and school parents and teachers, the municipal staff of Date proudly reopened the pool in the summer of 2011.​​​

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​​​DECONTAMINATION OF RESIDENTIAL AREAS

Beginning in August 2011, Date's administration began performing radiation monitoring every four months throughout the city.

For maximum effectiveness, the decontamination was carried out based on dose rates measured over a 1-km grid. This provided a precise image of the contamination and was used to divide the city into three areas (A, B, and C) according to level of radioactivity. The initial goal of the decontamination operations was to reduce individual exposure to below 5 mSv per year.

The two maps below show the results obtained between the first radiation monitoring campaign in August 2011 and the ninth campaign in March 2014.

​Dosimetric mapping of the city of Date

First campaign, August 19-21, 2011

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Ninth campaign, March 11-15, 2014

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DISCUSSING PROJECTS WITH THE PEOPLE

How does one discuss this type of project with the people and get them involved? To help residents in Date quickly and easily understand the risks associated with radioactivity and the benefits of decontamination, Takahiro Hanzawa, a close associate of the mayor, came up with the idea of creating educational materials depicting the challenges and goals of decontamination.

For example, in one presentation, radioactive elements were compared to wild animals circling homes, ready to attack, decontamination was compared to an operation to capture these animals, and storage of contaminated soil was compared to their placement in an enclosure separating them from the population.

This original initiative illustrates the approach adopted by the city administration: involving residents in decision-making and implementation, based on constant dialogue and using innovative communication methods.

Ongoing support for clear improvements

In the spirit of ICRP publication 111, which states that “maintaining long-term restrictions on the production and consumption of foodstuffs may affect the sustainable development of the contaminated areas, and therefore call for appropriate implementation of the optimisation principle. Reconciling the interests of local farmers, producers, and the local population with those of consumers and the food distribution sector from outside the contaminated territory has to be considered carefully,” Mayor Nishida provided his support to farmers who decided to continue their agricultural activities with the final goal of offering safe products - peaches, apples, strawberries, grapes, persimmons, and other fruits - not only accepted ​throughout Japan, but also prized for their outstanding flavor.

Thanks to its proactive policy, the city of Date managed to keep most of its residents, with only 1,200 deciding to leave, and 800 of those later returning. The mayor’s ability to improve the living conditions of his residents rested on the intelligent coordination between his teams and NGOs, and on their capacity to draw on the experience of those, in Belarus and Norway, who developed actions to protect themselves.

Another factor was the willingness of the mayor to host meetings of the Fukushima Dialogue Initiative in Date city hall and to actively participate in it. This contributed significantly to the understanding of the human aspects of the situation and the particular importance of preserving the dignity of people living in the areas under rehabilitation, as well as reinforcement of local, national, and international solidarity.