Japan's nuclear evacuees shunned over health fears

Evacuees living in partitioned 'rooms' at a shelter in Kamaishi in Iwate prefecture. People fleeing Japan's crippled nuclear plant are being turned away from evacuation centres due to fears they might contaminate others with radiation. -- PHOTO: AFP

KITAKAMI - PEOPLE fleeing Japan's crippled nuclear plant are being turned away from evacuation centres because of unfounded fears they might contaminate others with radiation.

Those made homeless by the emergency at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi atomic plant need local government-issued certificates proving they are not contaminated before they are allowed to step foot inside the centres.

Screening facilities set up to soothe concerns over radiation have become checkpoints that determine access to a place to sleep and - in at least one case - healthcare, even though experts say evacuees pose no risk to others.

'Unless they are plant workers, ordinary people aren't dangerous,' said Kosuke Yamagishi of Fukushima prefecture's medical services division.

'People are simply over-reacting, and sadly this could lead to discrimination,' he told AFP.

An eight-year-old girl from Minamisoma was refused treatment for a skin condition in a hospital in Fukushima city because she did not have a screening certificate, the Mainichi daily reported. 

-- AFP