#Fukushima I Nuke Accident: Dairy Farmer Commits Suicide in Soma City, Fukushima

Monday, June 13, 2011


#Fukushima I Nuke Accident: Dairy Farmer Commits Suicide in Soma City, Fukushima



He left a note, which said "If only there was no nuke plant..."



The dairy farmer lived outside the evacuation zones (mandatory and planned). Part of his despair was that he wouldn't get compensated for his loss and hardship by the government because he lived outside the government-ordered evacuation zones. He was probably, and sadly, right.



Soma City is about 43 kilometers from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.



Yomiuri Shinbun (3:09AM JST 6/14/2011) reports:







　福島第一原発の事故で、牛を処分して廃業した福島県相馬市の酪農家男性（５０歳代）が「原発さえなければ」と書き残して自殺していたことが１３日、わかった。



It was revealed on June 13 that a dairy farmer in his 50s had committed suicide, leaving a note saying "if only there was no nuke plant". He had already killed his cows and given up on his dairy farming.





　関係者によると、男性は今月１１日、小屋で首をつった状態で見つかった。小屋の壁に白チョークで「仕事する気力をなくしました」「残った酪農家は原発にまけないで」と記していた。



According to people who knew him, the farmer's body was found in the barn on June 11. He had written on the wall of the barn with a piece of white chalk, "I don't feel like working any more," and "for those of you still in dairy farming, don't let the nuke plant get you down."





　男性が住む地区は当初、加工前牛乳が出荷停止となり、男性は乳を搾っては捨てていた。今月初旬までに約３０頭を処分した。男性は親の代から酪農を続けており、姉は本紙の取材に「（弟の死は）子どもたちのことを思えば話したくない。しかし、原発の件は訴えたい」と語った。



The farmer lived in the area where the shipment of raw milk was initially halted, and he was dumping all the milk he milked from his cows. By the beginning of June, he had disposed about 30 cows. He had succeeded his parents in dairy farming. His elder sister told the Yomiuri reporter that she was reluctant to talk about his brother's death for the sake of his children, but she wanted to tell people about the nuke plant [and how it destroyed his brother].





　酪農家仲間だった男性（５１）は「避難区域ではないため、補償はないだろうと繰り返していた」といい、農業男性（５３）は「連絡をとるたびに『原発ですべてを失った』と悩んでいた」と話した。



One of the fellow dairy farmers, a 51-year-old man, said "He kept saying there would be no compensation [from the government] because he was not in the evacuation zones." A 53-year-old farmer who knew him said, "Every time I contacted him, he was distressed that he had lost everything, thanks to the nuke plant."