Imagine you've lost your house, job, and everything else that means "home" to you...

[kristopher]

Then imagine you are faced with this by those who caused the loss:

Residents furious over 60-page application, 160-page manual for TEPCO compensation

Residents affected by the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are furious after learning they will have to wade through a 60-page application form -- accompanied by a 160-page manual -- to seek compensation from the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).

The company, which on Sept. 12 started sending out documents for individual compensation claims for the period between March and August, says its careful explanation of the process resulted in a large amount of documentation. However, this hasn't appeased residents.

"One can only assume it's to prevent people from billing them," one resident commented.

Before the company started sending out the application forms, it was receiving about 1000 inquiries a day, but that figure has now jumped to about 3,000 a day...

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110920p2a00m0na011000c.html

What do you think your rights are here?

[phantom power]

1. "One can only assume it's to prevent people from billing them"

Good guess.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. Class action

[AndyTiedye]

3. Severely Limited by the Price-Anderson Act

[NickB79]

6. Does that apply to Japanese citizens? I thought PAA was only a US law? nt

[AndyTiedye]

10. Was Responding to the Question in the Last Sentence

What do you think your rights are here?

I assume "here" means the USA. The OP is in Delaware, according to his profile.

[kestrel91316]

7. I'm pretty sure US law does not apply on Japanese soil.

[AndyTiedye]

9. Last Sentence of OP Was "What Do You Think Your Rights are Here?"

I assumed "here" in that context meant the USA.
(OP profile says Delaware).

We'd be screwed too. Does anybody doubt that?

[kristopher]

11. That's right. - "U.S. ill-equipped to deal with Japan-like nuclear meltdown"

U.S. ill-equipped to deal with Japan-like nuclear meltdown
Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 9:30 AM Updated: Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 2:21 PM
By Eliot Caroom/The Star-Ledger

There’s plenty of disagreement over whether U.S. nuclear power plants are ready to face disasters and run responsibly. The industry says they are, while critics maintain some plants are just like the ones in Japan that melted down and they are poorly monitored to boot.

But whatever the situation of any single U.S. reactor, the disaster in Fukushima has laid bare one truth on which experts and officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agree: A disaster here would result in losses requiring the government to make payouts of epic proportions.

That’s because Fukushima will cost anywhere from $74 billion to $260 billion, according to Japanese experts, while the U.S. nuclear insurance fund, established by a 1957 law called the Price-Anderson Act, only has around $12.6 billion in reserve.

"If you have an accident or something like Fukushima, then Price-Anderson can’t handle those kinds of losses," said Wharton School professor Howard Kunreuther, who specializes in public policy.

Kunreuther co-wrote a paper on...
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/us_ill-equipped_to_deal_with_j.html

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Sounds like TEPCO got advice from BP.

Next up: TEPCO hires a "payment czar" like Ken Feinberg
, to handle the problem, and the spotlight.

[Lionessa]

5. Many around the world and here in the US are in fact facing those losses

and honestly, I'd welcome an opportunity to fill out pages and get relief. Unfortunately most of us have no one entity that we can work with to get relief from as those crooks responsible for most of the world's newly impoverished are being protected by IMF, USA, and most governments around the globe.

Sorry, I guess I should have more sympathy, but as cumbersome as this sounds, it's at least an avenue millions of people don't have at all.

[Yo_Mama]

8. 60 pages????

It's a good thing that Japan is a highly literate society!