March 12, 2012

On the first anniversary of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in Japan, the World Council of Churches (WCC) issued a statement expressing solidarity with the victims and encouraging governments to take concrete steps to avoid such tragedies in future.

The powerful Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March last year crippled the nuclear power station at Fukushima exposing people in the area to radiation, killing workers at the plant and forcing more than 100,000 people to abandon their homes.

According to several reports, estimates of future cancer deaths due to accumulated radiation exposures in the population living near Fukushima range from 100 to 1000.

"The accident showed clearly that, despite all safety provisions, there is no way to guarantee there will be no nuclear accidents," the statement points out.

"As we move towards the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20, Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b67ebe25d530d9db0d0d) in a year when the UN calls nations and peoples to help achieve sustainable energy for all (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=aa1a52365df2624351bf) remembering the Fukushima disaster and paying tribute to its victims should encourage governments to take clear steps towards achieving sustainable communities," reads the statement.

Last year in May, a message from the participants at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=661b2e4f80940bde4ca4) in Jamaica, expressed concern about nuclear energy and the threat it poses to humanity and nature: "The nuclear catastrophe of Fukushima has proved once again that we must no longer rely on nuclear power as a source of energy."

The WCC statement encouraged churches, communities, nations and individuals to formulate a concrete response to the issue of nuclear energy in order to protect people from nuclear disasters, like the one in Fukushima.

Read full text of the WCC statement (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=81a6c338b097c37e33c8)

From Chernobyl to tsunami stones: Life-saving lessons on peace convocation agenda (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=fa73df657fe8bc3ba5f0) (WCC press release of 26 April 2011)

WCC member churches in Japan (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=2bd243cf7ff548876ef7)

World Council of Churches