Tokyo: The Japanese government has ordered the operator of the quake and tsunami-hit nuclear plant to pay compensation to affected families. About 48,000 families who lived within 30km of the Fukushima Daiichi plant will be eligible.
The compensation is described as provisional, with more details to be announced later in the day.
The plant operator, Tepco, is still trying to stabilise the nuclear facility.
“Tokyo Electric Company (Tepco) is to make an urgent and speedy payment in order to compensate for the losses incurred by evacuation and orders to stay indoors,” said chief government spokesman Yukio Edano.
“The basic idea is that one household will receive 1 million yen ($12,000, £7,331). We think that such an amount is necessary as a provisional payment,” he said.
The BBC’s correspondent in Tokyo, Roland Buerk, says the payments are the first of what is likely to be a massive compensation bill.
JP Morgan has estimated Tepco may face claims of up to 2 trillion yen, nearly $24bn (£15bn) by the end of this year.
Tepco and the Japanese government have faced criticism for not offering compensation earlier.
People forced to leave the area near the nuclear plant have been living in evacuation centres for more than a month.
With businesses shut, fields untended and fishing abandoned many have lost their livelihoods as well as their homes, our correspondent says.
There have been protests outside the headquarters of the plant’s operator, with some protesters travelling long distances to make their feelings known.
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