SENDAI,
— With a death toll expected to climb into the tens of thousands, more
than a half-million people displaced and a nuclear crisis continuing to
unfold, rescuers converged Monday on
The government reported Monday that radiation levels
again rose above legal limits outside the crippled nuclear complex at
quake-battered Fukushima, about 150 miles north of
where authorities have been pumping seawater into overheated reactors
to try to cool them down. Several other nuclear installations were
under close watch for potential problems.
Across a wide swath of earthquake-hit territory,
hundreds of thousands of hungry survivors roused themselves from a
third cold night spent huddled in darkened emergency centers, cut off
from rescuers, aid and electricity. At least 1.4 million households had
gone without water since the quake struck and some 1.9 million
households were without power. Rolling blackouts to conserve energy
were scheduled across much of the country on Monday.
In
and other large cities outside the quake zone, the first full workday
since Friday’s temblor began with delays and disruptions. Many of the
train lines that normally run between
With fears about how the world’s third-largest economy would weather the ongoing fallout from the massive quake,
main stock exchange, the Nikkei, opened down Monday morning by just
over 2 percent. The central bank said it was prepared to flood the
money markets with cash to keep the financial system running smoothly.
A full reckoning of deaths and damage could take weeks, but the picture grew grimmer with each passing hour.
“We have no choice but to deal with the situation on
the premise that it (the death toll) will undoubtedly be numbered in
the ten thousands,”
An international rescue effort gathered force, with teams arriving from
That team joined two other crews from
“We are glad to accept all the help we can get to assist the people of
There were some dramatic rescues of tsunami
survivors Sunday, including that of a 60-year-old man who had been
waiting for help since he was swept out to sea Friday.
Shinkawa, from the devastated city of Minamisoma,
was conscious and in “good condition” after the rescue, Japanese
officials said.
“I ran away after learning that the tsunami was
coming,” Shinkawa told rescuers, according to Jiji Press. “But I turned
back to pick up something at home, when I was washed away. I was
rescued while I was hanging to the roof from my house.”
In Rikuzentakata, a port city of about 20,000 leveled by the tsunami,
unable to hold on to her daughter’s hand, she told Japanese broadcaster
NHK. The girl was swept away by floodwaters and had still not been
found Sunday, Koyama said.
“I haven’t given up hope yet,” Koyama told NHK, wiping tears from her eyes. “I saved myself, but I couldn’t save my daughter.”
About 5,000 houses in Rikuzentakata were submerged by the tsunami, and most of the 7,200 houses in
A young man told NHK what ran through his mind as
tsunami waters rose and he watched his house wash away toward a nearby
nursing home. Eventually he, too, was swept away, he said.
“I thought I was dying and I was coasting through
the water. I thought of my family, and I decided to make every effort
to survive,”
Eighty-eight governments and six international
institutions have offered assistance with recovery efforts, the
Japanese Foreign Ministry announced.
Adding to the misery were more than 40 punishing aftershocks, three of magnitude 6 or higher Sunday.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 70 percent probability of a magnitude 7 quake in the next three days.
Officials from
Government officials said that the region-specific
outages would affect a broad range of things used in everyday life such
as traffic signals, medical institutions and train operations, and
possibly result in water supply disruptions.
The power rationing is expected to last until the end of April, officials said.
Banri Kaieda,
trade minister, warned that the country’s quake-damaged eastern and
northeastern areas may suffer electrical shortages and urged large
companies to limit electricity use, Kyodo reported.
Japanese Prime Minister
challenge since World War II and called on his people to unite in the
face of a devastating earthquake and tsunami and potential nuclear
crisis.
“This is the toughest crisis in
In his remarks to the media, Kan said 12,000 people
had been rescued, including about 5,800 people from Kesennuma, a city
in Miyagi prefecture hit especially hard by the tsunami. Kan said
100,000 soldiers would be deployed to help quake victims.
While search-and-rescue teams struggled to reach
battered parts of the northeast obstructed by mud and debris, new fears
emerged over a meltdown at
Kyodo News Agency was reporting early Monday that a cooling system pump had stopped at the Tokai No. 2 nuclear power plant in
U.N. nuclear watchdog officials said Japanese
authorities had notified them of an emergency at another plant farther
north, at Onagawa. But
noting that radioactive releases from the Fukushima Daiichi complex had
been detected at Onagawa, but that they were within safe levels.
Workers at Fukushima used seawater Sunday in a
desperate attempt to cool down three damaged nuclear reactors. One of
the reactors lost its outer shell in a hydrogen blast Saturday and
another was under threat of doing the same, said the country’s chief
Cabinet secretary,
“Everybody in my neighborhood is being evacuated,” said
53, who lives four miles from the nuclear plant and was lining up
outside a 7-11 convenience store waiting for food. “The buses are going
back and forth. People are scared, of course, but they are trying to
stay calm and it is proceeding in an orderly fashion.”
and industrial safety agency said more than 70 people were believed to
have been exposed to elevated levels of radiation, the Asahi Shimbun
newspaper reported. Most were waiting to be airlifted from a field at
the high school in
The International Atomic Energy Agency in
said it was told by Japanese officials that they would distribute
iodine tablets to residents near the plant. Iodine is known to protect
against thyroid cancer that can develop from radiation poisoning.
Government officials tried to allay fears, saying the level of radiation was not high enough to pose a serious health risk.
“Even if a blast were to occur in the building
containing the (other) reactor, the government doesn’t think the levels
of radiation would affect the health of residents who have evacuated
the area,” Edano said. “But the fact that we can’t rule out the
possibility of a blast is likely to cause some concerns.”
The Ronald Reagan, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, was anchored off the coast of Sendai on Sunday, said
The nuclear-powered ship is being used as a floating refueling station
for Japanese military and coast guard helicopters flying rescue
missions in the area and delivering emergency food supplies.
In Sendai, a city close to the epicenter, residents
were charging their cell phones on a generator set up by the
municipality for traffic lights.
“We’re stealing just a little electricity,” said
Sutomo Goto, 38. “Just enough for the cell phones. People were going
crazy without phones. There is no information since we don’t have TV.
But we’re OK here. Everything within 5 kilometers of the coast has been
washed away.”
restored in her clinic, which gave her an opportunity to watch
television. When the 38-year-old nurse saw footage of the tsunami
washing over the beachfront, she gasped.
“It is all washed away. Devastated,” said Abe, who
was heading home in the pitch darkness on a bicycle. “My first cousin,
she just had a baby, and we don’t know what happened to her. She lived
by the beach. Her parents can’t get down there to look. She hasn’t
shown up at the refugee center.”
Abe said that people are experienced in dealing with tsunamis in her hometown. But this one didn’t give them enough time.
“It was almost simultaneous, just a few minutes,” she said. “People went to their roofs but were washed away just the same.”
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(Times staff writers Demick and Magnier reported from Sendai and King from
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(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.
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