JAPAN: Earthquake clean-up continues as authorities battle to prevent nuclear catastrophe and take care of millions without power or water

Record ID: 465560

  • Title: JAPAN: Earthquake clean-up continues as authorities battle to prevent nuclear catastrophe and take care of millions without power or water
  • Date: 15th March 2011
  • Summary: NIHONMATSU CITY, FUKUSHIMA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (MARCH 14, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CRANE OPERATING IN LANDSLIDE SITE VARIOUS OF DAMAGED HOUSE EXTERIOR OF BUILDING WHERE QUARANTINED PEOPLE ARE SHELTERED VARIOUS OF WORKERS CHECKING RADIATION LEVEL ON MAN VARIOUS OF 45-YEAR-OLD EVACUEE FROM HUTABA KAZUHIRO SATO TALKING TO QUARANTINED FAMILY THROUGH GLASS WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) 45-YEAR-OLD FAMILY MEMBER OF QUARANTINED EVACUEE FROM HUTABA KAZUHIRO SATO SAYING: "They look healthy." MORE OF SATO TALKING TO FAMILY SOLDIER STANDING IN FRONT OF CONTAMINATED CLOTHES / SOLDIERS WORKING SIGN ON TRUCK PEOPLE WORKING (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) FIRST CLASS PRIVATE OF JAPAN'S GROUND SELF-DEFENSE FORCE MR. SHINOI SAYING: "Not all the people are being cleansed. Only those inspected of high-level radiation are being cleansed." SIGN READING: "STERILIZING FACILITY " IN JAPANESE VARIOUS OF MAN BEING CLEANSED
  • Embargoed: 30th March 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA1C7FA8XEXPZ5KM23FGQ1N9YZ
  • Story Text: Japan battled on Monday (March 14) to prevent a nuclear catastrophe and to care for millions of people without power or water in its worst crisis since World War Two, after a massive earthquake and tsunami that are feared to have killed more than 10,000 people.
    Japanese citizens woke to a third day of clean-up and rescue operations after the nation saw whole villages and towns wiped off the map by a wall of water.
    Officials confirmed three nuclear reactors north of Tokyo were at risk of overheating, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.
    At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex authorities said they had been forced to vent radioactive steam into the air to relieve reactor pressure. Authorities have poured sea water in all three of the reactors at the complex, run by to cool them down.
    Nuclear experts said it was probably the first time in the industry's 57-year history that sea water has been used in this way, a sign of how close Japan may be to a major accident.
    A Japanese official said 22 people have been confirmed to have suffered radiation contamination and up to 190 may have been exposed. Workers in protective clothing used handheld scanners to check people arriving at evacuation centres.
    First Class Private of Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force Mr. Shinoi was working at a centre in Nihonmatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture said not everyone was getting cleaned-up.
    "Not all the people are being cleansed. Only those inspected of high-level radiation are being cleansed," he said.
    The nuclear accident, the worst since Chernobyl in Soviet Ukraine in 1986, sparked criticism that authorities were ill-prepared for such a massive quake and the threat that could pose to the country's nuclear power industry.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register