Tepco President spent two hours on his knees apologizing at evacuation shelter

KORIYAMA (Fukushima) - 'WHY don't you try living here!' 'Tell us when we can go home!'

These and other harsh comments greeted Masataka Shimizu, president of Tokyo Electric Power Co, during a visit to an evacuation shelter in Koriyama on Friday to apologise for the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

His visit was the first time Mr Shimizu had gone to an evacuation centre since the nuclear fiasco began at Tepco's plant in Fukushima Prefecture. From start to finish, Mr Shimizu kept his eyes on the ground.

'I'm sorry for causing such trouble for you,' Mr Shimizu told the evacuees.

He spent about two hours apologising, often down on his knees at the shelter in the city's Big Palette Fukushima, which was housing about 2,000 people as well as the municipal offices of Tomiokamachi and Kawauchimura.

'Do you understand what it feels like to have to sleep on a cardboard box?' one crying woman yelled at him.

That night, Mr Shimizu visited Kisai High School in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, which is housing evacuees of Futabamachi, Fukushima Prefecture. He told Futabamachi Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa, 'I apologise from the bottom of my heart.'

ORIGINAL SOURCE

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