[Al Jazeera] Japan has declared a 20km area evacuated around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant a no-go zone.
Yukio Edano, the country's chief cabinet secretary, said on Thursday that the order would take effect from midnight local time on Friday (1500GMT on Thursday), and was aimed at preventing unrestricted entry into an area that has been largely deserted since an evacuation order first went out following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Under Japan's Disaster Countermeasures Basic Law, anyone who enters the zone will be subject to fines of up to 100,000 yen ($1,200) and possible arrest. Before the measure was enacted, defiance of the government's evacaution was not punishable by law.
"We beg the understanding of residents. We really want residents not to enter the areas," Edano said. "Unfortunately, there are still some people in the areas."
Edano termed the plant's condition as "not stable".
"[The declaration] reflects a growing worry from the Japanese government that people have been getting into this area much too easily and without enough caution," reported Harry Fawcett, Al Jizz's correspondent in Sendai.
"The evacuation zone has been off-limits in terms of people living in their homes ... but police around the checkpoints bordering it haven't been able to ... prevent people from coming in. All they've been able to do is take licence plate numbers and instruct people to get a radiation check when they come out." |