Relief efforts for victims, nuke crisis continue in Japan+

TOKYO, March 19 Kyodo -
Relief efforts for the survivors of the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan's northeast last week are progressing slowly but steadily, while the country continues to struggle with a stricken nuclear plant and is now facing the problem of foodstuffs contaminated with leaked radioactive substances.
Asian neighbors pledged support, meanwhile, as the foreign ministers of China and South Korea agreed with their Japanese counterpart to enhance cooperation in the fields of disaster prevention and nuclear safety during a meeting in Kyoto arranged before the earthquake.
The coastal city of Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture, became the first among quake-hit municipalities to get temporary housing for evacuees Saturday as construction of around 200 30-square-meter prefabricated housing units started on the grounds of a junior high school.
''We need to go forward,'' Mayor Futoshi Toba told construction workers as the focus of relief operations increasingly shifts from search and rescue operations to providing assistance to survivors.
Temporary housing construction also began in Kamaishi, another devastated city in Iwate Prefecture, later in the day.
The National Police Agency said the total number of dead and missing in the biggest natural disaster in Japan's postwar history stood at 18,690 -- 7,320 deed and 11,370 unaccounted for -- by 3 p.m. Saturday.
News reports about a man rescued from his house eight days after the disaster made urgent headlines around the world earlier Saturday. But it soon proved a disappointment after it was found that he had returned home the previous day after staying at an evacuation center.
He had been staying in the shelter since the quake and tsunami hit the coastal city on March 11 and returned to his home in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, around noon Friday to clean up, according to his family.
Help has been offered from many parts of the country in organizing alternative accommodation for evacuees.
Miyagi Prefecture has received offers from Kochi and other prefectures to put up evacuees in public housing, after Gov. Yoshihiro Murai called on survivors to move to other prefectures due to the difficulty of providing housing in the short term.
Neighboring Iwate Prefecture is also planning to transfer survivors in coastal areas to less-damaged inland public and private accommodation.
Saitama Super Arena in the city of Saitama, a huge event hall, will eventually accommodate around 5,000 evacuees, including people affected by the crisis at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano asked for support in accepting evacuees from areas near the nuclear plant.
''There are no risks at all in accepting people evacuating from areas close to the plant, and please don't be affected by baseless rumors'' about radiation fears, the top government spokesman said.
In the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant, a Self-Defense Forces team and firefighters resumed operations to douse water to cool down overheating spent fuel pools, while a glimmer of hope came with news that a power line had been connected to one of the crippled reactors.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the No. 2 reactor is expected to receive power on Sunday. Restoring a stable source of electricity is considered a key step to prevent further deterioration of the situation, but it remains unclear whether power supplies will help to restore the functions for cooling down the reactor cores or water in the spent fuel tanks at the plant.
The radiation crisis spread on Saturday as contaminated milk and spinach was reported from municipalities near the Fukushima power station, although the government said the levels of radiation detected did not immediately pose a risk to human health.
Vice health minister Kohei Otsuka said that if confirmed, sales of the contaminated products would be stopped and they would be recalled.
In Kyoto, Yang Jiechi and Kim Sung Hwan -- the Chinese and South Korean foreign ministers -- agreed with their Japanese counterpart Takeaki Matsumoto to step up cooperation on disaster prevention and nuclear safety.
Yang invited Matsumoto and Prime Minister Naoto Kan to visit China at an appropriate time later this year, while Kim offered ''maximum support'' from Seoul to people affected by the quake and tsunami, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.