JAPAN: Rescuers sift through rubble in tsunami-ravaged town of Otsuchi

Record ID: 464933

  • Title: JAPAN: Rescuers sift through rubble in tsunami-ravaged town of Otsuchi
  • Date: 16th March 2011
  • Summary: OTSUCHI, IWATE PREFECTURE, JAPAN (MARCH 15, 2011) (REUTERS) AREA AFFECTED BY EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI CHARRED DEBRIS DAMAGED AND CHARRED BUILDING PEOPLE WALKING IN AREA PEOPLE WALKING PAST DEBRIS EMERGENCY WORKERS AT SCENE EMERGENCY WORKERS GATHERED EMERGENCY WORKERS WALKING EMERGENCY WORKERS SIFTING THRU RUBBLE FOR BODIES DAMAGED SHOPPING MALL EMERGENCY WORKERS AT SCENE
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVADPLKNRAW627QA4M8GPJP0AYRE
  • Story Text: The coastal town of Otsuchi in northern Japan is all but obliterated by the tsunami that followed Friday's (March 11) 9.0-magnitude quake.
    The scene was nightmarish, as described by Patrick Fuller, a communications manager of the International Federation of Red Cross.
    Almost everything has been flattened and Fuller quoted the government as saying that around 9,500 - more than half the population - are feared dead.
    The Iwate government said it had been unable to communicate with the mayor of Otsuchi and other officials, since the town office was swept away.
    The full extent of the destruction wreaked by last Friday's massive quake and tsunami that followed is still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10,000 people were killed.
    Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday's ferocious waves.
    About 850,000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.
    Nearly half a million people have been evacuated from their homes.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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