ID :
199881
Mon, 08/08/2011 - 19:24
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https://oananews.org//node/199881
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U.N. chief Ban encourages crisis-hit evacuees in Fukushima
FUKUSHIMA, Japan, Aug. 8 Kyodo - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Monday expressed solidarity with Japan in Fukushima Prefecture and cheered up evacuees at an evacuation center who remain displaced from their homes almost five months after the March 11 earthquake and subsequent nuclear crisis.
Ban also met with high school students in the prefecture, encouraging them to help create a better world, and visited tsunami-devastated sites to assess local people's needs.
At a gymnasium where about 300 people are taking refuge, Ban, accompanied by his wife, shook hands with the evacuees one by one. Speaking in Japanese, the former South Korean foreign minister offered words of encouragement such as ''The world is with you,'' and ''It must have been hard after the quake, but please hang in there.''
Ban told reporters one woman asked him to make sure no one else in the world would have to suffer from the same pain that Fukushima residents are going through.
Noriko Gorai, a 57-year-old evacuee whose home is located in Minamisoma within the 20-kilometer evacuation zone from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Ban's visit ''really lifted my spirits and I'm full of emotion.''
Earlier in the morning, the U.N. chief told Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato, ''I came here to express my solidarity, the United Nations' solidarity.''
''The whole world is supporting you and trying to help, together with the United Nations,'' he said, adding he hopes to find out the local people's needs by visiting the devastated areas.
Sato thanked Ban for visiting the prefecture and said, ''How encouraging it is for Fukushima Prefecture that the secretary general of the United Nations has visited the prefecture.''
In Fukushima, Ban also spoke with students at a public high school, encouraging them, as the world's future leaders, to think about what can be done to make the world a better place.
''I'm very touched,'' he said after hearing a speech by 17-year-old junior Minami Watanabe, who told Ban in English how she longs for life to return to normal and that she hopes the days of shedding tears of hardship will make her a stronger person in times of adversity in the future.
Watanabe, who evacuated from her home in Namie near the crippled plant, said with a smile afterwards, ''Now that I know there are other people around the world suffering under various situations, I feel that together with them, I can keep going.''
Ban later toured a coastal area in Soma, also in the northeastern Japan prefecture, where many perished in the March tsunami disaster. After offering a moment of silence for the victims, Ban told reporters he believes Japan will be able to overcome this tragedy with the nation's determination and the international community's support.
Ban also met with high school students in the prefecture, encouraging them to help create a better world, and visited tsunami-devastated sites to assess local people's needs.
At a gymnasium where about 300 people are taking refuge, Ban, accompanied by his wife, shook hands with the evacuees one by one. Speaking in Japanese, the former South Korean foreign minister offered words of encouragement such as ''The world is with you,'' and ''It must have been hard after the quake, but please hang in there.''
Ban told reporters one woman asked him to make sure no one else in the world would have to suffer from the same pain that Fukushima residents are going through.
Noriko Gorai, a 57-year-old evacuee whose home is located in Minamisoma within the 20-kilometer evacuation zone from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said Ban's visit ''really lifted my spirits and I'm full of emotion.''
Earlier in the morning, the U.N. chief told Fukushima Gov. Yuhei Sato, ''I came here to express my solidarity, the United Nations' solidarity.''
''The whole world is supporting you and trying to help, together with the United Nations,'' he said, adding he hopes to find out the local people's needs by visiting the devastated areas.
Sato thanked Ban for visiting the prefecture and said, ''How encouraging it is for Fukushima Prefecture that the secretary general of the United Nations has visited the prefecture.''
In Fukushima, Ban also spoke with students at a public high school, encouraging them, as the world's future leaders, to think about what can be done to make the world a better place.
''I'm very touched,'' he said after hearing a speech by 17-year-old junior Minami Watanabe, who told Ban in English how she longs for life to return to normal and that she hopes the days of shedding tears of hardship will make her a stronger person in times of adversity in the future.
Watanabe, who evacuated from her home in Namie near the crippled plant, said with a smile afterwards, ''Now that I know there are other people around the world suffering under various situations, I feel that together with them, I can keep going.''
Ban later toured a coastal area in Soma, also in the northeastern Japan prefecture, where many perished in the March tsunami disaster. After offering a moment of silence for the victims, Ban told reporters he believes Japan will be able to overcome this tragedy with the nation's determination and the international community's support.
