The Japanese government has approved a $600-million plan of provisional compensations for evacuees from the 20-km zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the Kyodo news agency said on Friday.
When the payments begin in April, each evacuated family will receive one million yen (about $12,000) and people who had no families will get 750,000 yen (some $9,000)
More compensations will be paid in the future.
A powerful earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11 leaving more than 27,000 people dead or missing and disabling the Fukushima reactors’ cooling systems. Radioactive elements were later found in the water, air and food products in some parts of Japan.
The radiation leak has not stopped completely and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said the scope of radiation leakage could eventually reach that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster or even exceed it.
MOSCOW, April 15 (RIA Novosti)