Kan promises to never abandon tsunami victims

Tokyo/Fukushima, Apr 10 (PTI) Prime Minister Naoto Kan
on Sunday promised the tsunami survivors of Japan that his
government would "never abandon" them, as he surveyed for the
third time the disaster-hit zone where the radiation-leaking
Fukushima nuclear plant is yet to be stabilised.
Kan visited a fishing area in Ishinomaki in Miyagi
prefecture, the worst-hit in the March 11 magnitude-9 quake
and tsunami that left nearly 30,000 people dead or unaccounted
for in Japan's northeast.
"The government will give all its strength to work with
you. We will never abandon you," Kan spoke at a radio station
after surveying the devastated fishing region.
He promised the locals that the government would do all
it can to help them rebuild their lives and revive the damaged
fishing industry.
At the Fukushima nuclear complex, workers were
preparing to dispose off highly radioactive water to a nuclear
waste processing facility and turbine condensers.
They were expected to soon start pumping out the more
than 50,000 tons of highly radioactive water that is filling
an underground trench to a nearby storage place inside the No.
2 reactor turbine building.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is
working to lay hoses between the turbine buildings and the
facility, national broadcaster NHK said.
Holes have already been bored in the walls of the
buildings, but work to install the hoses has yet to begin.
Amid concerns raised by countries like South Korea over
the release of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific
Ocean by workers at the Fukushima plant, Kan acknowledged
Japan should have given firmer explanations to the neighbours.
Kan also visited a Self-Defense Forces (SDF)
headquarters in Sendai, where the SDF and US troops in Japan
have set up a joint office for relief work, and thanked
American military for its cooperation.
Reports said that a worker at the Fukushima complex
had to be taken to hospital after complaining of sickness.
The cause of his sickness was not yet known but he had
no apparent injuries, the plant's operator said.
"He was conscious but somewhat wobbly. He could walk
if assisted," said a spokesperson.
In their battle to cool down an overheated reactor,
engineers have sealed a crack leaking highly radioactive water
into the Pacific Ocean. On Sunday, they began installing a
"silt curtain" to try to prevent radioactive mud from
spreading.
A report said that a high level of caesium had been
found in the konago fish caught in Fukushima.
During his visit to a devastated fishing port in the
city, Kan told members of the local fisheries industry that
the government would select ports that should be
preferentially reconstructed under a rehabilitation programme.
The Prime Minister told Governor Yoshihiro Murai of
Miyagi prefecture that the central government would build
70,000 temporary houses as quickly as possible.

Kan, who arrived in the prefecture on board an SDF
aircraft, also held talks with Ishinomaki city's Mayor Hiroshi
Kameyama. Ishinomaki is a coastal city of 163,000 people.
"I felt a considerable amount of energy will be
necessary for the reconstruction. I saw progress in part of
work to remove rubble but restoration of lifelines has been
insufficient," he told reporters after visiting a shelter.
Governor Murai sought sufficient assistance for people
affected by the quake and tsunami, while Mayor Kameyama
requested that temporary housing be built as quickly as
possible for those who have lost their homes.
Kan said the government has set an immediate goal of
building 70,000 temporary houses and will speed up
construction as much as possible.
He said the government would convene a panel of experts
this week to study a blueprint for reconstruction.
Kan later went up a hill to survey areas that sustained
extensive damage from tsunami, and visited evacuees at a
shelter, national broadcaster NHK reported.
Meanwhile, Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Nuclear
and Industrial Safety Agency, said that removal of the highly
contaminated water from the trench must be done "in haste," as
its level is edging up, apparently because of steps taken to
prevent it from leaking into the Pacific Ocean, Kyodo news
agency reported.
Toxic water has been found in the basements of the Nos.
1 to No.3 reactor turbine buildings, as well as in nearby
trenches connected to them.
Transferring the water to nearby tanks and other
storage places is seen as vital to move ahead with the work to
restore the key cooling functions at the reactors.
"As contaminated water with high concentration (of
radioactive substances) would be moved, we would like to
confirm the safety of the process," Nishiyama said.
Workers are also trying to open up a facility for
nuclear waste disposal in the plant by continuing to dump
relatively less contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean. A
total of 8,900 tonnes of such water has been released so far.
TEPCO is also expected to fly a small unmanned
helicopter to survey the plant, depending on the weather,
Nishiyama said.
In Tokyo, exit polls showed that the capital city's
governor Shintaro Ishihara had won a re-election days after
causing a major stir by his comments that the recent quake and
tsunami were a "divine punishment" for Japan.
Anti-nuclear demonstrators under the banner of eight
groups took to the streets in the capital to demand for the
closure of all nuclear power plants in Japan and make a policy
shift towards alternative energy resources.
Outside the industry ministry and TEPCO headquarters,
demonstrators called on the government and the firm to take
more responsibility for what happened at the Fukushima plant.

Residents are temporarily returning to the government-
designated evacuation zone near the crippled Fukushima power
plant to collect their belongings, despite the radiation risk.
An elderly couple living within the zone were quoted as
saying by Kyodo that they noticed increased vehicular
movements since the start of April and lights turned on at
some homes in the neighbourhood.
Due to radiation fears after the quake and tsunami
smashed the nuclear plant, the Japanese government had asked
people within a 20 km-radius of the facility to evacuate and
those in the 20-30 km ring to stay indoors or "voluntarily
leave" the area.
According to the National Police Agency, 12,985 people
have been confirmed dead and 14,809 listed as missing
following the March 11 twin disaster, bringing the total to
27,794. The figure includes deaths reported after a major
aftershock on Thursday night.
SDF and US military troops on Sunday conducted a
massive search operation for those who are still missing after
the disaster.
The search operation covered coastal and inland areas
from Iwate to Fukushima prefectures, but not the 30-km zone
surrounding the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.
The joint mission involved 22,000 personnel from both
the countries. About 50 vessels and 90 aircraft were also
being used.
Meanwhile, voting took place for local elections across
Japan today after a subdued campaign in the wake of the worst
crisis in Japan's postwar history, triggered by the mega quake
and tsunami.
The results would, however, be crucial in the
elections, including the much-publicised Tokyo gubernatorial
race, over issues ranging from how to revitalise local
economies to the devolution of power.