TOKYO (Sputnik) – Three relatives of 102-year-old Japanese citizen Fumio Okubo have filed a 60-million-yen ($485,000) lawsuit against the operator of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), over the centenarian’s suicide, the Kyodo agency said Wednesday.
Okubo killed himself in April 2011, following the announcement of a mandatory evacuation from Iitate, the village in which he had lived since birth, due to concerns about high radiation levels. The village is located about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on March 11, 2011 was triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. At least 140,000 people were evacuated from the contaminated region, many of whom are still unable to return to their homes.
The accident is considered to be the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. The cleanup, including the dismantling of the plant's reactors, could take up to 40 years.
