Artist Geoff helps nuclear disaster victims

AN artist who witnessed the aftermath of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster is holding a charity festival to mark its anniversary.

Geoff Read, of Littleborough, near Rochdale, was living in the region in central Japan with his wife Mitsuko and their then eightyear-old son in 2011 when the earthquake and tsunami struck.

It led to a nuclear reactor meltdown which caused the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Geoff, 58, said: “The whole house shook very strongly as the earthquake hit.

“Once the tremors had subsided we turned on the television to see what was going on and it was at that point we saw on the screen the tsunami hit the nuclear power station.

“We knew there and then that it was potentially very serious and we started making plans to evacuate.”

With the region was in panic, petrol stations ran out of fuel and supermarket shelves were empty.

Geoff’s car didn’t have enough fuel to get far enough away from the contaminated area, but luckily, after three days, they were able to get a flight to Hiroshima where they stayed with friends, before eventually moving to Kyoto.

But Geoff, who has used art to help street children in Mexico, returned to Fukushima where he helped with the clean-up and began working with children affected by the blast.

It led to the Strong Children Japan project, which has seen Geoff draw the portraits of dozens of kids in the area, which they then illustrate with drawings about the disaster.

But 18 months after the meltdown Geoff and Mitsuko decided concerns around contamination were just too great to raise their son in Japan there and with a heavy heart’ decided to move back to the UK.

Since then Geoff has continued to help those affected by the disaster, and campaigned to raise awareness of the dangers of nuclear power, and on Saturday (March 11) he is organising the Festival for Fukushima at Littleborough Conservative Club in aid of the 183 children and young people now suffering from thyroid cancer as a result of the radiation and children orphaned by the tsunami.

It will see bands and artists, including Geoff’s own group Cat’s Cradle, perform ●●Artist Geoff Read (above) working with children affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster and (below) with volunteers cleaning up debris after the tsunami a series of gigs and workshops throughout the day.

Geoff said: “Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries on the planet and has some of the best civil engineering, but they were still unable to prevent a nuclear disaster.

“So for me the message is clear, if it can happen there it can happen anywhere. The risks of nuclear power are just too great.”

For more details on the festival search for ‘Festival for Fukushima’ on Facebook. The Strong Children Japan project can be viewed at strongchildrenjapan. blogspot.co.uk.