ID :
170620
Thu, 03/24/2011 - 18:23
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/170620
The shortlink copeid
Nuclear disaster hinders search for missing in Fukushima Pref
TOKYO, March 24 Kyodo - The search for missing people following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan has been hindered in Fukushima Prefecture due to the ongoing nuclear crisis there, rescue workers said Thursday.
Self-Defense Force personnel said it is possible that many bodies have been left behind in disaster-hit locations in the prefecture, as troops faced difficulty entering areas placed under evacuation orders due to the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Fukushima Prefecture currently accounts for around 8 percent of the death toll.
People living in a 20-kilometer radius of the plant have been under directives to evacuate and those within 20 km to 30 km have been advised to stay indoors.
SDF rescue workers deployed in Fukushima have thus focused on assisting the evacuation of residents, including bed-ridden hospital patients, rather than searching for the missing, they said.
In the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, part of which is within the area where people have been advised to stay indoors, Yukio Ito, 55, said, ''I have lost contact with my relatives who were caught up in the tsunami. I'm irritated because not enough has been done to carry out search activities.''
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa visited the northeastern Japanese prefecture to give encouragement to SDF personnel working to contain the nuclear crisis as well as those who have been aiding evacuees.
According to the National Police Agency, more than 27,000 people were either confirmed dead or remained unaccounted for following the quake and tsunami as of 9 p.m. Thursday -- 9,811 dead and 17,541 missing.
Of the dead, 5,889 were in Miyagi Prefecture, 3,025 were in Iwate Prefecture and 839 were in Fukushima Prefecture.
A total of around 250,000 people were staying at some 1,900 evacuation centers in 16 prefectures, mostly in northeastern and eastern Japan.
At the nuclear plant, efforts to restore power and cooling functions were disrupted Wednesday after black smoke was observed emanating from the No. 3 reactor building and workers were evacuated. But Tokyo Electric Power Co. resumed work Thursday morning after determining that it was safe for workers to return.
But later Thursday, three workers at the plant were exposed to high-level radiation while laying cable inside the No. 3 reactor's turbine building, and two of them were hospitalized for radioactive contamination to their legs, according to the nuclear safety agency and Tokyo Electric.
The two were diagnosed with possible beta ray burns, the agency said.
The turmoil caused by the nuclear crisis has deepened, with the Tokyo metropolitan government distributing 240,000 bottles of water for babies younger than 1 year old after radioactive iodine exceeding the limit for infants was detected in water at a purification plant in Tokyo.
Water with radiation levels considered unsafe for infants to drink was also detected at several purification plants outside of Tokyo as well, including in Chiba and Saitama prefectures.
Also on Thursday, a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 shook northeastern Japan in the evening, measuring lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in central Miyagi Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
In the morning, a magnitude 4.9 jolted the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo, registering lower 5 on the Japanese scale in the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture, another area severely damaged by the deadly quake and tsunami.
In Iwate Prefecture, meanwhile, construction of temporary housing started in the coastal city of Kamaishi, while the municipal governments of Ofunato and Miyako announced they would begin construction work Friday.
At least 8,800 units of temporary housing will be built in the prefecture.
In severely damaged Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, autopsies on some 9,260 bodies have been completed as of Thursday morning, of which about 6,140 were identified and around 5,700 were returned to their families.
In a fresh sign of recovery, the Tohoku Expressway, which was closed following the disaster, was fully reopened to ordinary traffic Thursday morning, enabling full-fledged support for reconstruction.
Highway use was previously restricted to authorized emergency vehicles to give priority to transporting relief goods and workers.
Self-Defense Force personnel said it is possible that many bodies have been left behind in disaster-hit locations in the prefecture, as troops faced difficulty entering areas placed under evacuation orders due to the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Fukushima Prefecture currently accounts for around 8 percent of the death toll.
People living in a 20-kilometer radius of the plant have been under directives to evacuate and those within 20 km to 30 km have been advised to stay indoors.
SDF rescue workers deployed in Fukushima have thus focused on assisting the evacuation of residents, including bed-ridden hospital patients, rather than searching for the missing, they said.
In the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, part of which is within the area where people have been advised to stay indoors, Yukio Ito, 55, said, ''I have lost contact with my relatives who were caught up in the tsunami. I'm irritated because not enough has been done to carry out search activities.''
Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa visited the northeastern Japanese prefecture to give encouragement to SDF personnel working to contain the nuclear crisis as well as those who have been aiding evacuees.
According to the National Police Agency, more than 27,000 people were either confirmed dead or remained unaccounted for following the quake and tsunami as of 9 p.m. Thursday -- 9,811 dead and 17,541 missing.
Of the dead, 5,889 were in Miyagi Prefecture, 3,025 were in Iwate Prefecture and 839 were in Fukushima Prefecture.
A total of around 250,000 people were staying at some 1,900 evacuation centers in 16 prefectures, mostly in northeastern and eastern Japan.
At the nuclear plant, efforts to restore power and cooling functions were disrupted Wednesday after black smoke was observed emanating from the No. 3 reactor building and workers were evacuated. But Tokyo Electric Power Co. resumed work Thursday morning after determining that it was safe for workers to return.
But later Thursday, three workers at the plant were exposed to high-level radiation while laying cable inside the No. 3 reactor's turbine building, and two of them were hospitalized for radioactive contamination to their legs, according to the nuclear safety agency and Tokyo Electric.
The two were diagnosed with possible beta ray burns, the agency said.
The turmoil caused by the nuclear crisis has deepened, with the Tokyo metropolitan government distributing 240,000 bottles of water for babies younger than 1 year old after radioactive iodine exceeding the limit for infants was detected in water at a purification plant in Tokyo.
Water with radiation levels considered unsafe for infants to drink was also detected at several purification plants outside of Tokyo as well, including in Chiba and Saitama prefectures.
Also on Thursday, a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 shook northeastern Japan in the evening, measuring lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in central Miyagi Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
In the morning, a magnitude 4.9 jolted the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo, registering lower 5 on the Japanese scale in the southern part of Ibaraki Prefecture, another area severely damaged by the deadly quake and tsunami.
In Iwate Prefecture, meanwhile, construction of temporary housing started in the coastal city of Kamaishi, while the municipal governments of Ofunato and Miyako announced they would begin construction work Friday.
At least 8,800 units of temporary housing will be built in the prefecture.
In severely damaged Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, autopsies on some 9,260 bodies have been completed as of Thursday morning, of which about 6,140 were identified and around 5,700 were returned to their families.
In a fresh sign of recovery, the Tohoku Expressway, which was closed following the disaster, was fully reopened to ordinary traffic Thursday morning, enabling full-fledged support for reconstruction.
Highway use was previously restricted to authorized emergency vehicles to give priority to transporting relief goods and workers.
