In an interview with The Telegraph to mark the fifth anniversary of the tragedy, Naoto Kan, Japan's PM at the time of the disaster, described the panic and disarray at the highest levels of the Japanese government as it fought to control multiple meltdowns at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.
He said he considered evacuating the capital, Tokyo, along with all other areas within 160 miles of the plant, and declaring martial law. “The future existence of Japan as a whole was at stake,” he said. “Something on that scale, an evacuation of 50 million, it would have been like a losing a huge war.”
Mr Kan admitted he got “no clear information” out of Tepco. “We questioned our head safety advisor, and he was unable to give clear responses. We asked him – do you know anything about nuclear issues? And he said no, I majored in economics.”
At www.telegraph.co.uk
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