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In the morning of March 21, DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada, Chair of the DPJ disaster response headquarters, visited Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City to offer encouragement to the approximately 1400 residents of Futaba Town in Fukushima Prefecture who had taken temporary shelter there. Residents of the town had moved en masse to the Super Arena, after being forced to change evacuation centres several times following the accident at Fukushima No 1 nuclear power plant, as they were located within the 20 km exclusion zone around the plant.
Okada was accompanied by the Governor of Saitama Prefecture Kiyoshi Ueda, the Mayor of Futaba Town Katsutaka Idogawa, and the Mayor of Saitama City Hayato Shimizu. They went from person to person offering words of encouragement and asking people whether they had any requests or concerns.
After talking with the evacuees, Okada spoke to reporters, saying it was his impression that Futaba residents, “were facing tough conditions, but they have relaxed a little since [reaching the Super Arena].” He said that supplies were arriving, and the evacuees were being supported by more than one thousand volunteers and by medical practitioners. He added, “Once everyone has settled down a little, we will need to think about the next step. I believe that it is important for us to accept that this situation is likely to last for a certain amount of time and to create places for work and school, so that people can support themselves, and facilities such as baths. Of course the national government must take responsibility for this, but in this case the recipient Governor and Mayor are doing their utmost. I hope that this will become a model case.”
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