Tonnes of asbestos has been found at more than a dozen Japanese tsunami sites with worrying implications for public health.
EMMA ALBERICI, PRESENTER: While there has been much anxiety about radioactive fallout from the Fukushima disaster, there are warnings that Japan’s tsunami may have left another toxic legacy. With hundreds of thousands of buildings along the north-east coast damaged and destroyed, it’s estimated that the giant waves scattered tonnes and tonnes of asbestos. The cancer-causing fibrous material was used in building materials such as sheeting, fireproofing and insulation. Already more than a dozen tsunami sites have registered asbestos levels above the World Health Organisation’s safety limit. North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy reports from tsunami zone on the Sendai Plain in north-east Japan.
MARK WILLACY, REPORTER: It rolled over the Sendai Plain, a black Leviathan of unstoppable force. Along a 600 kilometre stretch of Japan’s north-east coast, the tsunami took away lives and swallowed entire communities and it turned homes and businesses into toxic piles of rubble.
NAOKI TOYAMA, ASBESTOS RESEARCHER (voiceover translation): Many Japanese people don’t know about asbestos. They don’t realise that lots of it was used in houses throughout the country.
MARK WILLACY: All along Japan’s north-east coast, asbestos sheeting, insulation and fireproofing material was mixed up in towering piles of tsunami debris. It’s carcinogenic dust and fibres eventually dried out, with some of it carried away by the wind.
NAOKI TOYAMA (voiceover translation): For about a year after the disaster, many people were working without taking precautions. Tens of thousands of people were involved in the clean-up. So I think there’s a chance some people will become ill from asbestos in the decades to come.
MARK WILLACY: This is not the first time Japan has had to confront the toxic spectre of asbestos. There was much criticism that during the aftermath of the 1995 Kobe earthquake there were no measures taken to protect workers with three deaths from asbestos-related illness confirmed so far.
After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japan’s government began checking asbestos levels in the disaster zone. So far its teams have checked more than 800 sites, from primary schools to debris piles.
HIDEAKI KURIBAYASHI, ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY (voiceover translation): As a result of that research, we have confirmed 14 cases in which asbestos levels exceeded the World Health Organisation safety limit.
MARK WILLACY: Japan relied on asbestos to rebuild from the ashes of World War II. But even after its dangers were known, a law banning asbestos use was not brought into force until just six years ago, so there’s still plenty of asbestos sitting in piles of tsunami debris like the ones behind me.
The ABC was here on the Sendai Plain just after the tsunami crashed into these communities, the waves killing indiscriminately and crushing almost every building in their path. Nearly two years on, this plain is empty, except for fields of weeds and the odd mountain of debris. In the piles of wreckage still being removed are tonnes and tonnes of asbestos building materials.
HIDEAKI KURIBAYASHI (voiceover translation): The Government is now carrying out measures to prevent workers from being exposed, so we’re teaching them to wear equipment such as dust masks.
MARK WILLACY: But veteran asbestos researcher Naoki Toyama believes more needs to be done to prevent clean-up workers falling victim to the cancer-causing substance.
NAOKI TOYAMA (voiceover translation): For example, Ishinomaki City is planning to destroy 4,000 tsunami-damaged buildings in the coming months. They don’t have enough local workers, so people who’ve never worked in the construction industry are being drafted in and they don’t have any knowledge of asbestos.
MARK WILLACY: While many fear the invisible fallout from Fukushima, it may be another poisonous substance closer to home that could prove even deadlier for some.
ABC