By JOSEPH COLEMAN, Associated Press Writer
TOKYO
(AP) - Just four months ago, they lived on a Pacific Ocean island
known for scuba diving and dolphin viewing, not superhighways
or smokestacks.
Then the volcano
at the center of Miyake island began erupting, and six weeks ago
the last of its 3,800 residents were evacuated to crowded, congested
Tokyo. No one knows when they'll return.
``We can't
go home until the volcanic activity stops,'' said Tamiya Sugimoto,
an official at Miyake Island's government office on the outskirts
of Tokyo and an evacuee himself. ``We just don't know, it all
depends on nature.''
The trouble
started in July, when 2,686-foot Mount Oyama started a series
of eruptions that blanketed the island in thick drifts of ash
and rocks. Rain later set off mudslides.
The last evacuees
left the island 118 miles south of Tokyo in September, leaving
behind their homes and their livelihoods. With Oyama still belching
volcanic gas, officials say it is too dangerous to go back.
Most evacuees
are living in rent-free city housing in the Japanese capital,
scraping by on savings, income from odd jobs or the generosity
of mainland relatives.
But life in
Tokyo has been tough for the islanders.
Employers
are reluctant to hire workers who could suddenly leave once the
evacuation order is lifted. And money donated to a fund for the
island has yet to reach the refugees.
The Tokyo
city government has just completed a survey of the evacuees to
find out where they are, and will now begin assessing their needs
and looking at ways to meet them, Sugimoto said.
The Miyake
government has posted information for evacuees and updates on
conditions on the island on the Internet. And residents have been
posting messages on their plight as well.
When they
are allowed back, some refugees won't have much to return to.
Homes have been damaged or destroyed, roads are covered in ash
or wrecked by mudslides, and gas and water lines are broken.
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