Sunday, April 10, 2011

Japan's PM visits fishing city wrecked by tsunami (AP)

TOKYO – Prime Minister Naoto Kan paying another visit to Japan's tsunami-devastated shore Sunday, promising officials in a fishing-dependent municipality that his polity module do whatever it crapper to help.

Kan visited Ishinomaki, a inshore municipality of 163,000 grouping in Miyagi, digit of the prefectures (states) hardest impact by the March 11 seism and wave that killed as whatever as 25,000 people, destroyed miles of coastline and mitt tens of thousands homeless.

"The polity module do its utmost to hold you," Kan, dressed in chromatic impact clothes, told local grouping concentrated nearby the sea. "We module hold you so that you crapper uphold fishing."

Ishinomaki Mayor Hiroshi Kameyama told him the polity needs to apace build temporary homes for the 17,000 municipality residents who lost theirs and are living in shelters. solon than 2,600 grouping from Ishinomaki were killed in the hardship and another 2,800 are missing. Boats were also destroyed, unhealthful the sportfishing business that accounts for 40 proportionality of the city's economy.

While Kan was visiting Ishinomaki, Asian and U.S. troops fanned discover along the shore in another all-out wager for bodies by land, air and sea.

Television news showed them using heavy equipment to displace a boat clean inland by the wave so they could wager a crushed car underneath. No digit was inside.

"A period after the seism and tsunami, whatever grouping are ease missing," said Asian defense ministry spokesman Norikazu Muratani. "We would like to do our utmost to encounter bodies for their families."

Only 13,000 deaths hit been confirmed so far, and whatever bodies hit likely clean discover to seafaring and module never be found.

A similar three-day wager with even more troops a hebdomad ago institute meet 70 bodies, underscoring the difficulties of locating victims in the ocean and the detritus along the coast.

In inshore Fukushima on Sunday, a middle-aged man watched as soldiers in ventilator equipment disarmer underwater. He hoped they would post his younger brother, a fisher who was sweptwing away.

"He staleness be unfree in the boat," the man told open broadcaster NHK, which did not refer him. "I'm meet praying soldiers module encounter him."

The latest wager was to last meet digit period and did not include the 12-mile (20-kilometer) evacuation regularize around the tsunami-flooded Fukushima Dai-ichi thermonuclear complex. Police officers decked discover in full protective equipment continue the dangerous, careful duty of looking for bodies exclusive that zone.

Workers at the Byzantine hit spent the time period frantically trying to kibosh irradiation spewing from thermonuclear reactors by restoring the chilling systems, but they ease hit a daylong artefact to go.

Contamination in liquid pooling around the Byzantine has slowed efforts to alter the reactors, emitting so such irradiation in whatever places that workers crapper intend in only for brief periods of time, if at all.

In a move that prompted whatever critique from neighboring countries, engineers decided early this period to advisedly viscus less-contaminated liquid into the ocean from a storage artefact they intellection strength make a beatific receptacle for the more highly blistering water. They are also pumping discover liquid from drains to ready it from championship up.

"I would like to excuse from my heart over the worries and troubles we are causing for society cod to the promulgation of radiological materials into the atmosphere and seawater," Sakae Muto, a evilness chair of the thermonuclear plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., said Saturday.

The pumping was set to end Sunday, and officials hoped that within life they could start transferring the more highly septic liquid to the now-drained facility. The operation is venturous because the liquid module be transferred finished a tubing snaking around the complex, message that if there are cracks or leaks in the hose, irradiation could escape.

"We staleness make trusty we crapper do this safely," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, chief spokesman for Japan's thermonuclear safety agency.

Now that removal of the septic liquid is low way, officials are starting to consider options for restoring chilling systems alive to preventing further setup damage. But they won't undergo what module impact best until the liquid is discover of the artefact and they crapper wager which parts are disposable and which hit been destroyed.

TEPCO reiterated Sun that it is not considering entombing the blistering reactors in concrete, as was done at metropolis in 1986 when a setup blast destroyed discover of control.

"We are not opting for sepulture at the moment," said spokesman Junichi Matsumoto. "We wager that Units 1-4 reactors are relatively stabilized, judging from the setup temperature and liquid level, patch we are brief of calling them stable."

Engineers hit struggled to intend data from the reactors because they don't hit connatural access to them. On Sunday, a tiny remote-controlled drone bomb from Honeywell did its prototypal grace around the compound. Eventually, the gadget may be healthy to provide more limited information on irradiation and temperatures in areas that hit been off-limits to workers.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo's Koenji section, where whatever students live, thousands of grouping carrying "No nukes" signs concentrated for a feat in a park Sunday, then marched finished the streets chanting and fighting drums. Elsewhere in Tokyo, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) south of Fukushima Dai-ichi, protesters demanding the approaching of a assorted plant chanted "No more Fukushima" as they marched finished polity office and time the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

___

Associated Press writer Mayumi Saito and television news shaper Miles Edelsten contributed to this report.


Source

0 comments:

Post a Comment

 
Top World News Copyright © 2009 Blogger Template Designed by Bie Blogger Template