Tokyo, Nov 19 (IANS) A Japanese court on Wednesday ordered the government to pay around 3.9 billion Yen (25 million US dollars) in damages to residents around Atsugi air base near Tokyo for health hazards and psychological distress due to noise, local media reported.

Presiding Judge Nobuhiro Okada at the Yokohama District Court said the jarring noise “caused damage that exceeded what could be tolerated in social life” in the case brought by around 8,000 nearby residents and others regarding the Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kyodo News reported.

Okada acknowledged that the use of the base, straddling the densely populated cities of Ayase and Yamato, has affected the lives of the residents for a long period of time and amounts to a rights violation, the report said, Xinhua news agency reported.

An official from the Defence Ministry’s regional bureau said it would “act accordingly with relevant agencies regarding our next steps.”

A series of lawsuits have been filed over noise pollution issues at the base, jointly used by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the US military, since 1976.

According to US Naval Forces Japan, the Naval Air Facility Atsugi is co-located with the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force in Kanagawa Prefecture, in Ayase City, which is about 16 km west of Yokohama and about 36 km southwest of Tokyo.

NAF Atsugi has been home to sailors and their families for 50 years and the only permanently forward deployed, co-located Air Wing, Carrier Air Wing Five for nearly 30 years. It is the only Naval installation supporting an entire Air Wing and more than 40 award-winning tenant commands. Additionally, the base provides facilities, services, material and logistics in support of US Navy aviation operations for Carrier Air Wing FIVE, deployed aboard USS Ronald Reagan (CVN76).

“NAF Atsugi’s strategic importance continues to grow, providing the finest facilities, maintenance and logistic services to support to make up the ‘Tip of the Sword’ ensuring stability in the Western Pacific,” the US Naval Forces Japan states.

–IANS

/as