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Japan nuke plant spews more radiation into sea

16:00 JST April 5: Radiation in seawater at the shoreline off Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear power plant has measured several million times the legal limit over the past few days, though officials contended Tuesday that the contamination still does not pose an immediate danger. Radiation has been pouring in to the Pacific from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake spawned a massive tsunami that inundated the complex. Over the weekend, workers there discovered a crack where highly contaminated water was spilling directly into the ocean.
Experts have said that radiation dissipates quickly in the vast Pacific, but they have also said that it's unclear what the long-term effects of large amounts of contamination will be.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Tuesday that samples taken from seawater near one of the reactors contained 7.5 million times the legal limit for radioactive iodine on April 2. Two days later, that figure dropped to 5 million.

Empire State Building lit up red and white for quake-hit Japan

New York City's Empire State Building was lit up in red and white at sunset Monday in a sign of support for Japan following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The 443.2-meter tower was joined by other iconic towers and skyscrapers including CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, in a worldwide lighting up in the colors of Japan's national flag for the country's disaster relief. In Asia, such participants as Menara KL in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and N Seoul Tower in South Korea also implemented illuminations in red and white from sundown Monday through the early hours of Tuesday morning. 

 

Japan confirms death of 19 foreigners in March 11 quake, tsunami

Japan has confirmed the deaths of 19 foreigners in the devastating March 11 quake and tsunami that struck eastern and northeastern Japan, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Monday. The dead were nationals of China, Canada, South and North Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Taiwan and the United States. Japanese police have notified bereaved families and respective diplomatic missions, the official said. Several dozen foreigners, mainly Chinese and South Korean nationals, remain missing following the twin disasters, the official said. (Kyodo)

 

Coroner overwhelmed by scale of carnage

SENDAI -- Corpses recovered from disaster areas three weeks after the March 11 megaquake and tsunami in the Tohoku region have become increasingly difficult to identify because of extensive damage, according to a coroner involved in the identification process. In a letter depicting what he witnessed, the forensic scientist, who is helping police coroners and declined to be named, said identification work is lagging because more than 100 bodies are turning up daily in hardest-hit Miyagi Prefecture alone. The damage was "as heavy as to arouse feelings of paralysis even in one such as myself, a forensic doctor familiar with dead bodies," he wrote, referring to some 100 bodies laid out at a school gymnasium where he worked one day. (Japan Times)

 

Japan tsunami dog reunited with owner

A dog rescued from a roof drifting off Japan's north-east coast more than three weeks after a quake and tsunami has been reunited with her owner. The owner recognised the dog from a TV news report on the rescue on Friday. The female owner and the two-year-old dog called Ban had an emotional reunion at an animal care centre where she was being looked after. The dog was found by a Japan Coast Guard crew on a drifting roof some 1.8km off Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, one of the worst-hit areas along Japan's north-east coast. Ban immediately jumped up and wagged her tail when her owner appeared.

 

Quake-relief donations total 115.4 bil. yen Total donations received by the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Central Community Chest of Japan for people afflicted by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami stood at 115.4 billion yen as of Saturday, the two charity organizations said Sunday. How the donated money will be shared and distributed to people affected by the natural disaster is likely to be determined by committees to be set up by the prefectural governments affected by the quake. But Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshihiro Katayama said the government "will have no alternative but to rely on government bond issuance" to finance reconstruction-related expenses in quake-hit areas.