Heroes of Fukushima Prince of Asturias Award for Concord 2011

At its meeting in Oviedo, the Jury for the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, made up of Mr. Matías Rodríguez Inciarte, Fernando de Almansa Moreno-Barreda, Viscount of Castillo de Almansa, Mr. José Ramón Álvarez Rendueles, Mr. Adolfo Barthe Aza, Mr. Antonio Basagoiti García-Tuñón, Mr. José Celma Prieto, Mr. Ramón Colao Caicoya, Mr. Francisco Daurella Franco, Juan Manuel Desvalls Maristany, Marquis of Poal, Mr. Felipe Fernández Fernández, Mr. Pedro Luis Fernández Pérez, Mr. José Antonio Fernández Rivero, Mr. Emilio Ferré Solé, Mr. Francisco de la Fuente Sánchez, Mr. José Luis García Palacios, Mr. Juan Ramón García Secades, Alicia Koplowitz Romero de Juséu, Marchioness of Bellavista, Mr. Gabino de Lorenzo Ferrera, Mr. Emilio Menéndez Gómez, Ms. Carmen Moriyón Entrialgo, Mr. Josep Oliu i Creus, Ms. María del Pino Calvo-Sotelo, Mr. Rodrigo de Rato Figaredo, Mr. Ángel Ron Güimil, Mr. Ramón Sotomayor Jáuregui, Mr. Antonio Ramón Suárez Gutiérrez, Mr. Antonio Trevín Lombán, Juan-Miguel Villar Mir, Marquis of Villar Mir, Mr. José María Villanueva Fernández, Mr. Santiago de Ybarra y Churruca, Mr. Santiago Zaldumbide Viadas, chaired by Mr. Francisco Alvarez-Cascos Fernández and with Mr. Pedro de Silva Cienfuegos-Jovellanos acting as secretary, has decided to bestow the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award for Concord on the candidature presented as the “Heroes of Fukushima”. The Jury has valued the serene, self-sacrificing response of Japanese society as a whole since the events of March 2011, which had its highest expression in the groups of people who, taking that self-sacrifice to a heroic level, risked their own lives to undertake work in the stricken plant and its surroundings that prevented an even greater human and environmental tragedy, providing the world with an example of courage in the face of adversity, the sense of duty, defence of the common good and civic awareness.

Oviedo, 7th September 2011