Japan court exonerates govt from nuke damages

TOKYO: Japan’s government is not liable for damages demanded by people whose lives were devastated by the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the country’s top court said.

According to Japanese media yesterday, this was the first such ruling in a series of similar cases.

A massive tsunami set off by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11, 2011, struck Tokyo Electric Power’s (Tepco) Fukushima Daiichi power plant to cause the worst nuclear disaster, forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes.

Plaintiffs had demanded damages from both Tepco and the state in several class-action lawsuits, and in March the Supreme Court upheld an order for Tepco to pay damages of ¥1.4bil (RM46mil) to about 3,700 people.

Some 470,000 people were forced to evacuate in the first days after the disaster, and tens of thousands remain unable to return even now.

Lower courts were split over the extent of the government’s responsibility in the disaster and ordering Tepco to take steps to prevent it from happening. — Reuters