JAPAN: Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visit earthquake, tsunami and nuclear evacuees

Record ID: 465622

  • Title: JAPAN: Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visit earthquake, tsunami and nuclear evacuees
  • Date: 31st March 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE EVACUEE SAYING: "The Emperor offered kind words of comfort, telling me 'it must be difficult to you because you have a child'. His words made me feel relieved."
  • Embargoed: 15th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan, Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Royalty
  • Reuters ID: LVAEASIMDR6ZDCLFSLQDLCDY7GH8
  • Story Text: Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited earthquake, tsunami and nuclear evacuees seeking shelter at an evacuation centre in Tokyo on Wednesday (March 30).
    Kneeling down to talk to evacuees families who had set up house within small partitions in a sporting event venue on the outskirts of Tokyo, the emperor and empress slowly made their way around the building.
    Akihito made an unprecedented televised address to his nation hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami on March 16, urging people to lend each other a helping hand in difficult times and expressing deep worry about the crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex which is leaking radiation.
    Looking sombre and stoic, the 77-year-old Akihito said the problems at the nuclear plant, where authorities are battling to prevent a catastrophe, were unpredictable after an earthquake he described as "unprecedented in scale".
    With the sentiment among evacuees moving from fear to anxiety over how they can return home and rebuild their lives, those at the centre said the Emperor's visit gave them strength to move on.
    "The emperor offered kind words of comfort, telling me 'it must be difficult for you because you have a child.' His words made me feel relieved," said an unidentified female evacuee, holding her infant in her arms.
    "I have seen this kind of scene on TV several times, but hearing the emperor was coming and seeing him here, I feel grateful and it has given me strength," said another unidentified male evacuee.
    Japan is reeling from what Prime Minister Naoto Kan has called its worst crisis since the end of World War Two, when the country had to rebuild from its devastating defeat.
    With entire towns on the northeast coast reduced to wastelands of mud and debris following the quake and tsunami, more than 175,000 people are living in shelters, and nearly 28,000 are believed to be dead or missing.
    Workers at the Fukushima complex may have to struggle for weeks or months under extremely dangerous conditions to restart cooling systems vital to controlling the nuclear reactors.
    The event looks likely to be the world's costliest natural disaster, with estimates of damage topping $300 billion.
    The emperor and empress Michiko have long played a role comforting the public in tough times, visiting the survivors of the massive quake that killed 6,400 people in the western port of Kobe in 1995.
    Akihito, who ascended the throne after the death of his father in 1989, has striven to draw the imperial family closer to the people in image.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Footage contains identifiable children: users must ensure that they comply with local laws and regulations governing the publishing of this material.
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