JAPAN: U.S. forces assist massive search and recovery task in post-tsunami areas- Aerials

Record ID: 465455

  • Title: JAPAN: U.S. forces assist massive search and recovery task in post-tsunami areas- Aerials
  • Date: 2nd April 2011
  • Summary: IN THE AIR, NEAR SENDAI, MIYAGI PREFECTURE, JAPAN (APRIL 1, 2011) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF AREA AFFECTED BY MARCH 11 EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI AERIAL VIEW OF DAMAGED BUILDINGS AND DEBRIS ALONG COASTLINE U.S. MILITARY CO-PILOT IN HELICOPTER FLYING SORTIE OVER AFFECTED AREA AERIAL VIEW OF DESTRUCTION ALONG COASTLINE AERIAL VIEW OF DAMAGED COASTLINE SENDAI, MIYAGI PREFECTURE, JAPAN (APRIL 1, 2011) (REUTERS) U.S. MILITARY OFFICERS IN OPERATIONS ROOM U.S. MILITARY OFFICERS CHATTING U.S. MILITARY STAFF AT TABLE MAP SHOWING NO-FLY ZONE AREA DEEMED AFFECTED BY NUCLEAR RADIATION EXPOSURE FROM THE FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI NUCLEAR PLANT (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMMANDER OF U.S. ARMY DISASTER ASSESSMENT TEAM, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL TIM SNYDER, SAYING: "We are going to be heavily involved in the search and recovery process. What we can provide to it is a coordinated effort in certain areas. So we'll work with JTF Tohoku (Joint Task Force for the Japanese northeast region) and basically create coordinates, create areas that we can search and assist in the recovery. Now, the Japanese side does the actual recovery. We don't actually put hands on any remains. But we can help find them." U.S. AND JAPANESE MILITARY STAFF IN BILATERAL COORDINATION ROOM U.S. AND JAPANESE MILITARY OFFICERS SEATED JAPANESE MILITARY STAFF LISTENING JAPANESE AND U.S. NATIONAL FLAGS ON TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF OF THE FORWARD DIVISION OF THE JAPAN-U.S. BILATERAL COORDINATION ACTION TEAM, COLONEL JIRO HIROE, SAYING: "Of course, it (the recovery of bodies) is very important. The parents or relatives, they hope to find the victims, the bodies of victims. Of course, that means we have to continue this operation." INTERIOR OF TERMINAL AT SENDAI AIRPORT BOARD SHOWING LAST DEPARTURE FLIGHTS BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI ON MARCH 11 WORKERS FIXING PANELS WORKER CARRYING METAL TUBES U.S. SOLDIERS INSIDE TEMPORARY REST AREA SET UP IN THE TERMINAL U.S. SOLDIERS CHATTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMMANDER OF THE 35TH LOGISTICS TASK FORCE, LIEUTENANT-COLONEL STACY TOWNSEND, SAYING: "I think really the focus is that the sooner we can get things in and around Sendai, and everything in the affected areas back to normal operations as much as possible. I think it will help boost the economy. I think it will help get people back into their homes, and the positive spirit will just keep increasing." EMPTY TERMINAL BUILDING ESCALATOR AT TERMINAL BUILDING JAPANESE NATIONAL FLAG OUTSIDE TERMINAL BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 17th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA44RTMMMLCOYXS7DEGX8K1ODV8
  • Story Text: Japanese and U.S. forces have launched a joint search operation to locate the bodies of people reported as missing on Friday (April 1).
    The intensive operation, which will go on for three days, involves 120 aircraft and 65 vessels and will cover the three prefectures hit hardest by the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami as high as a five-storey building it triggered which caused Japan's biggest humanitarian crisis since it rebuilt from the rubble after World War Two.
    Around 350,000 have been left homeless and more than 250 km of coastline have been ruined.
    More than 27,500 were killed or are missing from the tsunami. Daily mass burials have become common place in cities along the coast, a once unthinkable idea in a nation where the deceased are almost always cremated and their ashes placed in stone family tombs.
    Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Snyder, the commander of the U.S. Army Disaster Assessment Team said the American military is mainly providing aerial support for the operation.
    "We are going to be heavily involved in the search and recovery process. What we can provide to it is a coordinated effort in certain areas. So we'll work with JTF Tohoku (Joint Task Force for the Japanese northeast region) and basically create coordinates, create areas that we can search and assist in the recovery. Now, the Japanese side does the actual recovery. We don't actually put hands on any remains. But we can help find them," he said.
    Snyder stressed that the U.S. military is playing a support role in all operations for the disaster relief and will meet their Japanese counterparts daily to work out how to best help.
    Snyder added his teams are now mostly on the ground working to provide aid and relief, such as clearing debris from schools to resume classes setting up hot showers for evacuees in relief centres.
    The Japanese troops said they are very focused on body recovery of those still missing.
    Colonel Jiro Hiroe, the chief of the forward division of the Japan-U.S. bilateral coordination team stressed that the recovery operation would continue beyond these three days of intensified searches.
    He said he believed finding the bodies of those who are still missing is important to help victims find closure in the aftermath of the twin disasters.
    "Of course, it (the recovery of bodies) is very important. The parents or relatives, they hope to find the victims, the bodies of victims. Of course, that means we have to continue this operation," he said.
    At the Sendai airport, once flooded out by the devastating tsunami, things are slowly starting to get back to normal.
    The U.S. and Japanese militaries have been regularly flying out planes and helicopters for their relief operations as bulldozers work overtime to clear the debris in the area.
    Workers are also restoring terminal buildings in the airport, and fixing electrical circuits and building panels.
    Lieutenant-Colonel Stacy Townsend, commander of the U.S. Army's 35th logistics task force has been working on the ground at the Sendai airport for almost three weeks.
    He said he hopes Japan's domestic airlines can restart operations soon, adding it could have a positive psychological effect on the disaster recovery operations.
    "I think really the focus is that the sooner we can get things in and around Sendai, and everything in the affected areas back to normal operations as much as possible. I think it will help boost the economy. I think it will help get people back into their homes, and the positive spirit will just keep increasing," he said.
    Despite the advances in aid relief and disaster recovery operations, an unfolding nuclear crisis has diverted attention from the earthquake and tsunami devastation and added to the financial burden for the world's third largest economy.
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