Japan faces radiation threat; toll likely to cross 10,000

The death toll in northeast Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami on Friday could surpass 10,000 as the authorities braced up to prevent more damage due to radiation from a nuclear plant that was damaged in nature’s fury.

The police chief of Miyagi Prefecture, the region hit hardest, said the casualty figures are likely to cross 10,000 as thousands of people still remained unaccounted, the Kyodo News Agency reported on Sunday.

An earthquake of magnitude 9.0 hit parts of Japan on Friday, causing 10-metre high tsunami waves, leading to the massive devastation.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, run by the Tokyo Electric Power Co., was affected by the earthquake and the authorities have confirmed of explosion at the reactors.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirming the blast as per information shared by the Japanese government, said Japanese authorities have extended the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to a 20-kilometre radius from the previous 10 kilometres, according to information provided to IAEA by Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA.)

At the nearby Fukushima Daini plant, the evacuation zone has been extended to a 10-kilometre radius from the previous three kilometres.

Japanese authorities also reported that they are making preparations to distribute iodine tablets to residents in the area of both the plants. Iodine can be used to help protect the body from radioactive exposure.

The IAEA has reiterated its offer of technical assistance to Japan, should the Government request it. The agency said it will continue to liaise with the Japanese authorities, and is in full response mode to monitor the situation closely.

Chief Cabinet Scretary Yuko Edano on Sunday said that all efforts were on to control the overheating reaction at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

He said fresh water was being injected into the water to reduce pressure inside.

Edano said “a very small amount” of radioactive substances had leaked from the plant’s No. 3 reactor, dismissing concerns that the radioactivity level would affect human health.

Radiation measured 1,024 microsieverts at 8:33 a.m. on the rim of the plant’s premises, Edano said. The allowable level in one hour is 500 microsievert. But the figure went down to 70 an hour later, he said.

As the nation scrambled to face the crisis, Prime Minister Naoto Kan issued an instruction to boost the number of Self-Defense Forces personnel in quake-hit areas to 100,000, one of the largest deployments ever, reports said.

“I ask for utmost efforts to save the lives of as many people as possible. We will put all-out efforts into rescuing people who have been isolated,” Kan said after an emergency meeting.

Meanhwile in the Sendai, a northeastern coastal city that was closest to the epicentre, about 200 to 300 bodies have been found, police had said, but no stocktaking could be initiated yet.

The quake, said to have been nearly 8,000 times stronger than the one that devastated city of Christchurch in New Zealand last month, caused extensive damage along the entire northeastern coastline.

The worst affected is Miyagi Prefecture in Tohoku region on Honshu island where the tremor was felt most, especially in its capital Sendai.

A surging wall of muddy water swept away cars, sea vessels and buildings in northern Japan and devoured whatever came in its path while fires raged in oil installations and people ran out in panic.

At Sendai port the tsunami was 10-meter high washing away coast guard vessels and submerging ports and runways.

In Tokyo, the people rushed out of the buildings during the tremor. The offices shook and footage of Japan’s NHK TV station showed how inside the newsroom everything was stirring in the quake.

Across Tokyo, nearly 400 kms from the epicentre, people trooped into the streets in fear and panic.

Cars and ships were swept away along with dwellings in tsunami in the Fukushima Prefecture in the Tohoku region on Honshu, TV footage showed.

The quake also triggered several infernos, including in an oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, reports said.

Meanwhile, Indian communities by large has been reported safe from the aftermath of ever devastating Earthquake that hit Japan on the Friday. There are no reports of casualties.

Indian communities and groups throughout Japan are continuously putting every effort to stay connected within the community, reports from Tokyo said.

Active Indian groups are sharing information within the groups to make sure that the friends and families of India are safe all over Japan.

Indian groups in Tokyo region connected through Yahoo and Google groups are continuously sending information of safety regulation.

Indian Groups and volunteers are actively rendering Emergency earthquake related information services.