Yahoo! India News – Wed, Mar 16, 2011 8:22 AM IST
Japan races to avert a catastrophe after fire broke out on Wednesday at a nuclear plant that has sent low levels of radiation wafting into Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and triggering growing international alarm at the escalating crisis. Refresh this page for latest updates.
12:45 pm: Rajeev Sharma, an Indian who has just returned from disaster-hit Japan, said the Indian embassy in Tokyo had been of no help. When he got through to them after much trying, they reportedly told him they had no intimation from the government about what to do, and suggested he call again after five days. Five days, Sharma told Times Now, would have been "too late". On its website, the embassy says it has been answering up to 100 phone calls a day, and helping Indians cope with the crisis.
12:40pm:This infographic from Reuters shows the latest figures on Japan quake and tsunami
12:30pm: IPad2 launch delayed: Apple's latest version of the iconic tablet, which launched on March 11 -- the same day the 8.9 quake and resulting tsunami devastated the eastern coast of Japan -- will now face delays of up to four weeks before it arrives in Japan, CNet reports. As per the original schedule, sales of the IPad2 were slated to begin March 25, the same day the latest version of the tablet rolled out to 24 other countries around the globe. The full story
12:20pm:Fresh quakes in Japan: The United States Geological Survey reported two fresh quakes off the coast of Honshu. The first, of magnitude 5.8, is reported as located 31.1 km (19.3 miles) off the east coast of Honshu, while the second, of magnitude 4.7, is located at 25.1 km (15.6 miles), also off the east coast of Honshu.
12:15pm: Public trust in the Japanese government faces its biggest test since World War Two over the handling of the nation's nuclear crisis, raising concerns that a breakdown in confidence could fuel panic and chaos if appeals for calm go unheeded. Reuters reports that foreigners are leaving Tokyo, or shutting themselves indoors, and supermarket shelves are running empty despite authorities assuring citizens there is no need to panic. Locals have increasingly lost confidence in the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, which was already unpopular before the disaster struck. And it is not just the citizens who are feeling aggrieved -- Reuters reports that even the local mayor of a town close to the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex complained that the government had failed to keep his office updated on the situation. "We've been asking the prefecture and the government to give us information quickly but we've been having to force information out of them," said Katsunobu Sakurai, mayor of Minamisoma. Read the full story
12.10pm: When tragedies strike, perhaps the saddest question that surfaces in the aftermath is "Could this have been avoided?". That question surfaced in relation to the Japan calamity, with Steven Swinford and Christopher Hope of the Telegraph, UK, reporting that an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency as warning, way back in December 2008, that safety rules in some Japanese nuclear plants were out of date, and that a strong earthquake could cause serious problems. Citing cables from Wikileaks, the Telegraph reported that the Japanese government had at the time pledged to upgrade safety measures at all its plants. However, though an emergency response center was built at the Fukushima plant, it was only designed to withstand tremors of 7.0 magnitudes, and not able to resist the 8.9 quake that struck on March 11. Read the full story here and the Wikileaks cables here
11:55am: Shares in Fukushima's operator TEPCO plunge 24%7 in Tokyo's trade, the AFP reports.11:31am: Rescue operations continues on Wednesday, with 80,000 Self-Defense Forces personnel and police officers mobilized in the devastated areas, where temperatures have dropped to midwinter levels.
The National Police Agency said it has confirmed 3,676 deaths in 12 prefectures, while 7,843 people remained unaccounted for in six prefectures as of 12:30 p.m.
The death toll, however, will inevitably climb higher as the recovery of bodies mainly in the tsunami-hit coastal areas started in full swing after waters there held back and tsunami warnings were lifted. Full story on Kyodo news
Though we have been watching it live ever since the 8.9 magnitude quake struck Japan March 11, it is still difficult to comprehend the scale and scope of the devastation. Aiding that understanding is this infographic from Live Science, that shows how earthquakes and tsunamis, while dangerous enough by themselves, become doubly catastrophic when they combine.
11:40am:
11:26am: Workers have returned to the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant after an evacuation order was lifted, Tokyo Electric Power Company said.
11:15am: Setting aside recent tensions in their bi- and multilateral relationships, the United States and China have joined hands to help Japan cope with the aftermath of the quake and consequent tsunami, Wired.com reports. "Japan and the United States have had their share of tensions with China lately, thanks to feuds over US-Korean exercises near China's borders and disputes between China and Japan over where those borders actually lie, among other issues," Wired points out, adding that the US already has a number of warships operating on relief and rescue missions off the Japanese coast, including the entire carrier group headed by USS Ronald Reagan, and four destroyers. Four more US ships are expected to arrive off the Japanese coast within the day, Wired says. Full story
10:45am: Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday promised that additional safeguards would be put in place before giving environmental clearance to the planned Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant (JNPP) in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had said an immediate technical review of India's atomic plants has been ordered to check if they can withstand the impact of large natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes. Read the full story on Yahoo India
10.30am: The death toll in Japan from Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami stood at 3,676 Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, though the number of missing people increased.
9:45am:The container of the No.3 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant is feared to have been damaged and may have leaked radioactive steam Wednesday, emitting high-level radiation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
The radiation level briefly topped 6 milisievert per hour at the plant, the government's nucler safety agency said.
The explanations were given after smoke was seen rising from the No.3 reactor since around 8:30 a.m., according to Edano. (Kyodo News)
9:30am: Chen Guangbiao, a 42-year-old billionaire and chief executive of recycling company Jiangsu Huangpu Renewable Resources, headed to Japan Friday to personally donate rescue supplies and 13 million yen (US$158,820) to the country’s earthquake and tsunami victims. Read more
9:00am:Dealing with the dead has become a pressing problem in Ishinomaki. The town's vice-mayor, Etsuro Kitamura, estimates that 10,000 out of a population of 160,000 may have died in the tsunami that pulverized the Japanese coast on Friday.
Although cremations are traditional, this is not an option given the shortage of fuel and the lack of facilities. "Our city has only one crematorium, which can handle perhaps 18 bodies a day," Kitamura said. "If there are 10,000 dead, it will take 500 days to burn them all. Read more on Guardian.co.uk
8:30am: Workers at Japan's earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant have evacuated the plant, after radiation levels rose, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said.
"All the workers there have suspended their operations. We have urged them to evacuate, and they have," he said, according to a translation by NHK television.
The IAEA says contamination levels at the plant shot up to 167 times the average dose.
8:20am:
8:00am: A new fire hits the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant Wednesday, the latest in a series of setbacks that increases fears of widespread radiation contamination.
source - yahoo
Japan races to avert a catastrophe after fire broke out on Wednesday at a nuclear plant that has sent low levels of radiation wafting into Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and triggering growing international alarm at the escalating crisis. Refresh this page for latest updates.
12:45 pm: Rajeev Sharma, an Indian who has just returned from disaster-hit Japan, said the Indian embassy in Tokyo had been of no help. When he got through to them after much trying, they reportedly told him they had no intimation from the government about what to do, and suggested he call again after five days. Five days, Sharma told Times Now, would have been "too late". On its website, the embassy says it has been answering up to 100 phone calls a day, and helping Indians cope with the crisis.
12:40pm:This infographic from Reuters shows the latest figures on Japan quake and tsunami
12:30pm: IPad2 launch delayed: Apple's latest version of the iconic tablet, which launched on March 11 -- the same day the 8.9 quake and resulting tsunami devastated the eastern coast of Japan -- will now face delays of up to four weeks before it arrives in Japan, CNet reports. As per the original schedule, sales of the IPad2 were slated to begin March 25, the same day the latest version of the tablet rolled out to 24 other countries around the globe. The full story
12:20pm:Fresh quakes in Japan: The United States Geological Survey reported two fresh quakes off the coast of Honshu. The first, of magnitude 5.8, is reported as located 31.1 km (19.3 miles) off the east coast of Honshu, while the second, of magnitude 4.7, is located at 25.1 km (15.6 miles), also off the east coast of Honshu.
12:15pm: Public trust in the Japanese government faces its biggest test since World War Two over the handling of the nation's nuclear crisis, raising concerns that a breakdown in confidence could fuel panic and chaos if appeals for calm go unheeded. Reuters reports that foreigners are leaving Tokyo, or shutting themselves indoors, and supermarket shelves are running empty despite authorities assuring citizens there is no need to panic. Locals have increasingly lost confidence in the government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan, which was already unpopular before the disaster struck. And it is not just the citizens who are feeling aggrieved -- Reuters reports that even the local mayor of a town close to the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex complained that the government had failed to keep his office updated on the situation. "We've been asking the prefecture and the government to give us information quickly but we've been having to force information out of them," said Katsunobu Sakurai, mayor of Minamisoma. Read the full story
12.10pm: When tragedies strike, perhaps the saddest question that surfaces in the aftermath is "Could this have been avoided?". That question surfaced in relation to the Japan calamity, with Steven Swinford and Christopher Hope of the Telegraph, UK, reporting that an official from the International Atomic Energy Agency as warning, way back in December 2008, that safety rules in some Japanese nuclear plants were out of date, and that a strong earthquake could cause serious problems. Citing cables from Wikileaks, the Telegraph reported that the Japanese government had at the time pledged to upgrade safety measures at all its plants. However, though an emergency response center was built at the Fukushima plant, it was only designed to withstand tremors of 7.0 magnitudes, and not able to resist the 8.9 quake that struck on March 11. Read the full story here and the Wikileaks cables here
11:55am: Shares in Fukushima's operator TEPCO plunge 24%7 in Tokyo's trade, the AFP reports.11:31am: Rescue operations continues on Wednesday, with 80,000 Self-Defense Forces personnel and police officers mobilized in the devastated areas, where temperatures have dropped to midwinter levels.
The National Police Agency said it has confirmed 3,676 deaths in 12 prefectures, while 7,843 people remained unaccounted for in six prefectures as of 12:30 p.m.
The death toll, however, will inevitably climb higher as the recovery of bodies mainly in the tsunami-hit coastal areas started in full swing after waters there held back and tsunami warnings were lifted. Full story on Kyodo news
Though we have been watching it live ever since the 8.9 magnitude quake struck Japan March 11, it is still difficult to comprehend the scale and scope of the devastation. Aiding that understanding is this infographic from Live Science, that shows how earthquakes and tsunamis, while dangerous enough by themselves, become doubly catastrophic when they combine.
Though we have been watching it live ever since the 8.9 magnitude quake struck Japan March 11, it is still difficult …
11:26am: Workers have returned to the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant after an evacuation order was lifted, Tokyo Electric Power Company said.
11:15am: Setting aside recent tensions in their bi- and multilateral relationships, the United States and China have joined hands to help Japan cope with the aftermath of the quake and consequent tsunami, Wired.com reports. "Japan and the United States have had their share of tensions with China lately, thanks to feuds over US-Korean exercises near China's borders and disputes between China and Japan over where those borders actually lie, among other issues," Wired points out, adding that the US already has a number of warships operating on relief and rescue missions off the Japanese coast, including the entire carrier group headed by USS Ronald Reagan, and four destroyers. Four more US ships are expected to arrive off the Japanese coast within the day, Wired says. Full story
10:45am: Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday promised that additional safeguards would be put in place before giving environmental clearance to the planned Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant (JNPP) in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had said an immediate technical review of India's atomic plants has been ordered to check if they can withstand the impact of large natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes. Read the full story on Yahoo India
10.30am: The death toll in Japan from Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami stood at 3,676 Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, though the number of missing people increased.
9:45am:The container of the No.3 reactor of the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant is feared to have been damaged and may have leaked radioactive steam Wednesday, emitting high-level radiation, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
The radiation level briefly topped 6 milisievert per hour at the plant, the government's nucler safety agency said.
The explanations were given after smoke was seen rising from the No.3 reactor since around 8:30 a.m., according to Edano. (Kyodo News)
9:30am: Chen Guangbiao, a 42-year-old billionaire and chief executive of recycling company Jiangsu Huangpu Renewable Resources, headed to Japan Friday to personally donate rescue supplies and 13 million yen (US$158,820) to the country’s earthquake and tsunami victims. Read more
9:00am:Dealing with the dead has become a pressing problem in Ishinomaki. The town's vice-mayor, Etsuro Kitamura, estimates that 10,000 out of a population of 160,000 may have died in the tsunami that pulverized the Japanese coast on Friday.
Although cremations are traditional, this is not an option given the shortage of fuel and the lack of facilities. "Our city has only one crematorium, which can handle perhaps 18 bodies a day," Kitamura said. "If there are 10,000 dead, it will take 500 days to burn them all. Read more on Guardian.co.uk
8:30am: Workers at Japan's earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant have evacuated the plant, after radiation levels rose, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said.
"All the workers there have suspended their operations. We have urged them to evacuate, and they have," he said, according to a translation by NHK television.
The IAEA says contamination levels at the plant shot up to 167 times the average dose.
8:20am:
Radiation exposure levels compared.
8:00am: A new fire hits the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant Wednesday, the latest in a series of setbacks that increases fears of widespread radiation contamination.
The operator of the quake-crippled plant said workers were trying to put out the blaze at the building housing the No4 reactor of the nuclear facility in Fukushima, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
Experts say spent fuel rods in a cooling pool at the reactor could be exposed by the fire and spew more radiation into the atmosphere. Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said two workers were missing after blasts at the facility a day earlier blew a hole in the building housing the No 4 reactor.Officials in Tokyo said radiation in the capital was 10 times normal at one point but not a threat to human health in the sprawling high-tech city of 13 million people.
Toxicologist Lee Tin-lap at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said such a radiation level was not an immediate threat to people but the long-term consequences were unknown.
Fears of trans-Pacific nuclear fallout sent consumers scrambling for radiation antidotes in the US Pacific Northwest and Canada. Authorities warned people would expose themselves to other medical problems by needlessly taking potassium iodide in the hope of protection from cancer.
source - yahoo
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