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Home: Strongest Ever Japan Earthquake and Tsunami: News updates for March 26-April 1, 2011

Strongest Ever Japan Earthquake
and Tsunami
News updates for March 26-April 1, 2011

This page is a continuation of my main Strongest Ever Japan Earthquake and Tsunami page, reflecting March 26-April 1, 2011 news updates for the 3rd week after the initial quake. Thanks so much for your concern, and please remember in your thoughts and prayers those thousands of people who are suffering right now and haven't heard from their missing family members.



News Updates for 3rd Week after Japan Earthquake and Tsunami -- Mar. 26-April 1, 2011 (JST=UT+9 hrs., or CDT+14 hrs., e.g. 8 am in Houston = 10 pm in Tokyo):

April 1, 2011 23:45 (JST):  Taiwan raises $128 million in aid for Japan - Since the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, Taiwan has been making a major effort to raise funds to support those affected by the disaster.  Taiwan's foreign affairs office says about 128 million dollars was raised as of Friday through governmental bodies, the Red Cross and private organizations. Foreign Minister Timothy Yang says Taiwan received generous support from Japan when it was hit by natural disasters, and this is its turn to return the sympathy. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

April 1, 2011 23:30 (JST):  A letter from Rakuten Eagles owner Marty Kuehnert - A letter from Marty Kuehnert, an American who is part owner and general manager of Sendai's Rakuten Eagles baseball team of Japan's Pacific League. "Dear Family and Friends, Many of you have asked me over the past weeks, "what can I do to help," and now I would like to tell you. Many people in the Tohoku area are in desperate straits, and the best thing you can do is donate money to organizations that will guarantee it will ALL be used for victims, especially those who will get it to the neediest promptly. The organizations I suggest you donate to are:
1. Kids Without Borders http://www.KidsWithNoBorders.org
2. World Concern http://www.worldconcern.org (These two organizations are handling all funds with no or very minimal overhead. Funds should to be designated to "MeySen Academy" in Sendai.)
3. One more organization that is good is Samaritan's Purse, the Billy Graham Foundation run charity: http://www.samaritanspurse.org
(Source: stripes.com)

April 1, 2011 22:55 (JST):  Thailand to send power facility to Japan
- The Thai government is to send a complete power-generation facility with two gas-turbine generators to Japan to help restore electricity supplies affected by the March 11th disaster and damage to the Fukushima nuclear power complex. Once operational, the facility is capable of producing 240,000 kilowatts of electricity, enough for between 80,000 and 240,000 households, depending on demand. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

April 1, 2011 21:30 (JST):  World's largest cement mixer bound for Fukushima - 
The world's largest concrete pump, deployed at the construction site of the U.S. government's $4.86 billion mixed oxide fuel plant at Savannah River Site, is being moved to Japan in a series of emergency measures to help stabilize the Fukushima reactors, according to the Augusta Chronicle. The 190,000-pound pump, made by German-based Putzmeister has a 70-meter boom and can be controlled remotely, making it suitable for use in the unpredictable and highly radioactive environment of the doomed nuclear reactors in Japan. (Source: stripes.com)

April 1, 2011 20:05 (JST):  Hong Kong Radiation Exceeds Tokyo Even After Japan Crisis
- Typical amounts of radiation in Hong Kong exceed those in Tokyo, indicating concerns about spreading contamination may be overblown. The radiation level in central Tokyo reached a high of 0.109 microsieverts per hour in Shinjuku Ward yesterday, compared with 0.14 microsieverts in the Kowloon district of Hong Kong. A person is exposed to 50 microsieverts from a typical x-ray. Tokyo's radiation level is only slightly higher than New York, where an average of 0.095 microsieverts an hour was recorded in the seven days to yesterday. Radiation levels in Hiroshima Prefecture averaged 0.051 microsieverts an hour yesterday. In Singapore, the radiation level was 0.09 microsieverts an hour at 4 p.m. local time yesterday, and radiation levels in London yesterday were about 0.08 microsieverts an hour. More...

April 1, 2011 17:30 (JST):  Foreign exodus from Japan after disaster
- NHK has learned that at least 20,000 foreign nationals have left Japan since the massive earthquake and the start of radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. NHK conducted a survey this week on the disaster's impact on diplomatic missions in Japan. Those of 46 countries and territories responded. The survey shows that foreigners who've left Japan include 9,000 Chinese, over 2,000 Australians and 2,000 French. The United States evacuated more than 7,400 members of families of military officers stationed in Japan. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

April 1, 2011 15:30 (JST):  Voluntary departure program: A safe haven or a free vacation?
- Some 7,000 U.S. family members who left Japan under the military's "voluntary departure" program stand to pocket a considerable amount of money, depending on whether they flew home to stay with family in North Dakota or chose to lie on the beaches of Waikiki. But the departures are generating a measure of controversy, with some military community members blasting their neighbors for taking "paid vacations." In a low-cost area, such as Grand Forks, N.D., a military family of three -- mom, a teen and a child under 12 -- would receive a maximum of $9,795 for the first month. That same family, however, would receive as much as $21,975 for the first month if they picked Honolulu, with its much higher cost of living, as the place they wanted to stay until they were authorized to return to Japan. (Source: stripes.com)

April 1, 2011 13:47 (JST):  Just another usual day at the shopping mall in Tokyo:



April 1, 2011 5:09 (JST):  Radiation detected in beef, vegetables - Radiation exceeding safety standards has been detected in beef from Fukushima and vegetables from Ibaraki, Tochigi and Chiba prefectures. The health ministry says it detected 510 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium, above than the national limit of 500, in round beef from a cow raised in a village in Fukushima prefecture on Wednesday. The beef has not been shipped. In Hitachi city, Ibaraki prefecture, 8,300 becquerels, or 4 times above the accepted limit, of radioactive iodine was detected in spinach. Spinach and parsley from other parts of Ibaraki were also found to be contaminated with higher-than-acceptable levels of radiation. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

Mar. 31, 2011 21:50 (JST):  UN Pressure to widen nuclear evacuation zone - UN nuclear monitors have advised Japan to consider expanding the evacuation zone around the stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. An exclusion zone with a radius of 20km (12 miles) is currently in place, but the UN says safe radiation limits have been exceeded 40km away. The UN's nuclear watchdog (International Atomic Energy Agency) found that one of the IAEA operational criteria for evacuation had been exceeded at the village of Iitate, 40km northwest of the nuclear plant. More...

Mar. 31, 2011 19:55 (JST):  U.S. military radiation control team to arrive in Japan soon
- A 140-member U.S. military radiation control team will arrive in Japan soon to help deal with the nuclear crisis, the top uniformed officer of Japan said Thursday. Gen. Ryoichi Oriki, chief of staff of the Self-Defense Forces' Joint Staff, said at a news conference that the unit specializes in monitoring radioactive materials, decontamination and medical treatment. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 31, 2011 10:25 (JST):  Radiation Dose Chart - This is a chart of the ionizing radiation doses a person can absorb from various sources. Oops, that banana I just ate raised my radioactivity by 0.1 microsieverts. I love some of this chart's disclaimers: "I'm sure I've added in lots of mistakes. It's for general education only. If you're basing radiation safety procedures on an internet png image and things go wrong, you have no one to blame but yourself. You are free to reuse it anywhere with no permission necessary. (However, keep in mind that I am not a radiation expert.)" Oh.....me neither, by the way.

Radiation dose chart

Mar. 31, 2011 8:01 (JST):  Areva to help TEPCO remove contaminated water
- The head of the Japanese subsidiary of the world's largest nuclear energy firm says he is ready to help remove contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima plant. The news comes after radioactive iodine-131, about 3,355 times regulated standards, was found in the sea near the Daiichi power plant on Tuesday - the highest recorded level so far. The President of AREVA Japan, Remy Autebert said his firm is ready to provide Tokyo Electric Power Company with all the knowledge it has accumulated in dealing with contaminated water. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

Mar. 31, 2011 5:30 (JST):  US troops help teens clean tsunami-hit school in Ishinomaki - US troops have joined students and Japanese Self-Defense Force personnel in cleaning up high school buildings in Ishinomaki City, which was hit by the massive tsunami on March 11th. The tsunami flooded the buildings and the gymnasium of Ishinomaki technical high school with more than one meter of water. The facilities were covered in muddy sludge and debris. Fifty personnel from the US Marines and Army, 40 Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force members and 60 students set to work on Wednesday, removing mud from the buildings. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

U.S. troops help teens clean tsunami hit school

Mar. 30, 2011 23:05 (JST):  American Man in Tokyo Organizes Relief Effort to Japan Tsunami-hit Ishinomaki, Miyagi
- "At last Saturday's international fund-raising party in Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyo, we used Y500 from each guest admission for the Tohoku tsunami relief effort. We also collected three boxes of donated items from guests. We spent about Y60,000 on food, which was mostly crates of fresh vegetables, fruits, 10 cases of canned coffee, and 20kg of ready to eat meat including spiral hams along with other items and another Y15,000 on accessories like paper plates, bowls, chopsticks, plastic glasses, soap, cleaning alcohol, paper towels, toilet paper, plastic bags, etc. With the van loaded front to back all the way to the ceiling and riding low on the back tires from the weight, I set out for Miyagi with a long-time friend." Read his full report here...

Mar. 30, 2011 15:30 (JST):  Emails revealed from TEPCO worker at Fukushima nucelar power plant
- An email exchange between a Tokyo Electric Power Co. employee working at one of the Fukushima nuclear power plants and a colleague located at Tokyo headquarters shines a rare light on the gripping personal losses weighing on those battling to bring the nuclear reactors under control. It also gives an inside look at the radically different problems faced by company workers at the plant compared to those being shouldered at headquarters. The following emails, one signed by a worker at the Fukushima Daini plant near the stricken Fukushima Daiichi reactors and the other by a Tokyo-based TEPCO employee, were sent last Wednesday to a private email list and viewed by The Wall Street Journal. A TEPCO spokesman verified the emails' authenticity. Read emails here...

Mar. 30, 2011 11:35 (JST):  Boston doctor, ex-English teacher, rushes to aid quake-hit Kesennuma
- Within days of the March 11 earthquake that struck the Tohoku region of northeastern Japan, N. Stuart Harris, a doctor at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and former English teacher, found himself in the back of an ambulance on an overnight ride north from Tokyo toward hard-hit Kesennuma for a five-day volunteer relief trip. What Harris saw firsthand were residents continuing to struggle against harsh winter weather, a lack of supplies and anxiety from aftershocks. The wilderness medicine specialist first went to Japan in 1989 to teach English on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in Iwaizumi, a small fishing town on the Pacific coast of Iwate Prefecture, north of Kesennuma. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 30, 2011 8:59 (JST):  American Red Cross donations to Japan top $120 million - The American Red Cross said Tuesday the public has donated $120.5 million to help Japanese people following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan. ''The American public and we at the American Red Cross have not forgotten the generosity of the Japanese people when we suffered tremendous loss after the 9/11 attacks and, more recently, after Hurricane Katrina,'' American Red Cross Chairman Bonnie McElveen-Hunter said in a statement. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 30, 2011 6:25 (JST):  French experts to help remove radioactive water - France says it will send 3 more nuclear experts to Japan to help with efforts to remove highly radioactive water from the troubled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Two other French experts are already in Japan and holding talks with the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company. The 5 are from French-based AREVA, one of the world's biggest nuclear energy firms. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

Nicolas Sarkozy & Naoto Kan
French President Nicolas Sarkozy & Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan

Mar. 30, 2011 1:25 (JST):  Number of Japan Earthquakes by Day of Month, March 2011 - I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, and certainly wouldn't want to jinx matters, but it DOES appear, thank God, that the Japan earthquake activity is beginning to settle down a bit. Let's cross our fingers !

Number of Japan earthquakes by day in March 2011
Number of Japan Earthquakes by Day of Month, March 2011  
(Source: tenki.jp/earthquake)

Mar. 29, 2011 23:30 (JST):  Gov't may ask farmers to delay rice planting amid radiation scare
- The agricultural ministry is considering asking farmers in Fukushima and some other prefectures to delay rice planting for a few weeks amid growing concerns about radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled by the devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this month, officials said. The delay would give the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries time to examine whether rice paddies are too contaminated with radioactive substances to allow cultivation, the officials said. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 29, 2011 21:54 (JST):  British Airways willing to return to Haneda as soon as possible - British Airways is willing to resume services at Tokyo's Haneda airport as soon as possible after shifting all flights to Narita airport due to scheduling difficulties after the massive earthquake in Japan, Willie Walsh, chief executive of the holding company of the airline, said Tuesday. Walsh said he sees declining passenger demand to and from Japan mainly by business people but showed confidence it will return in the near future and the airline hopes to increase flights to Haneda from five round-trip flights a week to daily flights. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 29, 2011 10:35 (JST):  Radiation Level Graphs for 10 Prefectures and Iodine 131 Levels for Water Purifying Plants in 5 Prefectures - Radiation level and tap water quality data in Japan have been gathered from various data sources, as indicated underneath each image on the page linked above. The radiation graphs are made from data from monitoring posts set up by the Prefectural Offices, TEPCO, and NISA. All radiation readings are converted to microsieverts/hr for consistency. The graphs will be updated at least twice a day depending on circumstances. Kudos to Phillip, Michael Gakuran, Roy Berman, Martyn Williams, and Tokyo Reporter who have all been providing this valuable and accurate information about the events since the Japan earthquake and tsunami on Friday, March 11, 2011 to make these graphs possible. (Source: fleep.com)

Fukushima Prefecture radiation levels
Fukushima Prefecture Radiation Levels


Iodine 131 levels at water purifying plants in Chiba Prefecture
Iodine 131 levels at water purifying plants in Chiba Prefecture

 
Mar. 29, 2011 8:10 (JST):  'Songs for Japan' album tops iTunes store charts in 18 nations - 'Songs for Japan,' an album dedicated to supporting victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, is the top-selling album on Apple Inc.'s online shop in 18 countries. According to the iTunes Store Top 10 Albums, the album, featuring 38 songs by artists and groups from Europe and the United States, tops the charts in such countries as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany and Switzerland as well as in Japan and the United States. Proceeds from sales of 'Songs for Japan,' which was released worldwide Friday, will all be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 29, 2011 3:00 (JST):  Baseball: MLB, players union donate $500,000 to Japan quake victims
- Major League Baseball and the players union said Monday they will jointly donate $500,000 via UNICEF to aid Japan's relief efforts in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami. ''Major League Baseball is proud to provide help to our friends, peers and all the citizens of Japan at this critical time of need,'' said commissioner Bud Selig. Selig added that the league will continue to work with the clubs and the Major League Baseball Players Association in the weeks ahead to help the earthquake and tsunami victims. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 29, 2011 2:20 (JST):  Plutonium found in Fukushima plant soil
- Tokyo Electric Power Company says plutonium has been found in soil samples from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. It says the radioactive substance appears to be related to the ongoing nuclear accident, but the level detected is the same as that found in other parts of Japan and does not pose a threat to human health. TEPCO collected samples from 5 locations around the power plant over 2 days from March 21st and found 2 samples contaminated with plutonium. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

Mar. 28, 2011 20:25 (JST):  Coca-Cola Japan eyeing emergency import of mineral water from S. Korea
- Coca-Cola (Japan) Co. said Monday it has begun negotiations with the South Korean unit of U.S. beverage firm Coca-Cola Co. for emergency imports of mineral water for supply to the quake-raved Tohoku region and the adjacent Kanto area where radiation scare prompted consumer to rush to buy bottled water. Other beverage companies, such as Suntory Holdings Ltd., Ito En Ltd. and Kirin Beverage Co., have decided to increase imports of mineral water from Europe. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 28, 2011 19:15 (JST):  Wal-Mart to reopen 12 quake-hit stores in Japan
- Wal-Mart Stores Inc will re-open 12 of its Seiyu stores in Japan which were affected by the earthquake, and is hoping to open the remaining 12 impacted stores as soon as possible, a spokesman for the U.S.-based retailer said. Wal-Mart has 371 stores and 43 deli outlets in Japan, of which 24 were affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 27,000 people dead or missing across Japan's devastated northeast. Of Wal-Mart's affected stores, two were severely hit and were completely covered by mud, said Wal-Mart Asia's Vice President of Corporate Affairs, Anthony Rose. (Source: Reuters)

Mar. 28, 2011 15:25 (JST):  Toyota, other automakers resume car assembly after quake - Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday resumed production of the Prius and other hybrid vehicles, while some other automakers gradually started assembly after their operations were interrupted by the massive March 11 earthquake. Toyota started assembling the Prius at a plant in Aichi Prefecture and its two Lexus brand hybrids, the HS250h and CT200h, at a subsidiary's factory in Fukuoka Prefecture for the first time since March 14. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 28, 2011 12:58 (JST):  Lawyers to open phone consultations for quake-hit foreigners
- Lawyers will launch a telephone consultation service for foreign nationals hit by the March 11 earthquake in Japan to help them overcome post-disaster issues, including problems over their residence status and work, they said Monday. The charge-free service to start Tuesday for two months through May 27 opens on weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon at 03-3591-2291, and is available in English, Chinese, Portuguese, Tagalog and Japanese. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 28, 2011 7:45 (JST):  Delay feared in restoring cooling systems
- At the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant, high radioactive density detected in 3 turbine buildings may further delay work to restore the cooling systems for the overheated fuel rods. Tokyo Electric Power Company says that on Sunday it detected 100,000 times the normal density of radioactive substances in the leaked water in the Number 2 reactor's turbine building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The water surface had a high radiation level of more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour. (Source: nhk.or.jp)

Mar. 27, 2011 23:35 (JST):  TEPCO's 3-hr. rolling blackout plan for the next 3 days
- I'm in Group 5. Oops, looks like tomorrow night will be another candlelight dinner!  smiley

 TEPCO's 3-hr. rolling blackout schedule for Mar. 28-30, 2011
TEPCO's 3-hr. rolling blackout schedule for Mar. 28-30, 2011

Mar. 27, 2011 17:38 (JST):  Food contamination set to rise as Japan fights radiation crisis
- Radioactive contamination in food is likely to worsen, Bloomberg News reports, as Japan enters a third straight week of battling the biggest nuclear-energy crisis since Chernobyl. "The number of radiation-affected foods will likely increase as each prefecture is testing its produce," Taku Ohhara, an official at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, said in a phone interview with Bloomberg. As of late Saturday night, some 99 products, including milk and vegetables, were found to be contaminated in Tokyo and five prefectures to its north and east, according to the health ministry's statement on its website. (Source: stripes.com)

Mar. 27, 2011 15:25 (JST):  Is there a relationship between the Japanese seismic intensity scale and the Richter magnitude scale?
- The short answer is "no." But because of a thought-provoking phone discussion I had yesterday with a fellow American friend in Tokyo, I decided to waste a few hours comparing Japanese seismic intensity scale readings with Richter magnitude scale readings for Japan earthquakes over the past 2 weeks. I researched all the 175 Intensity 1 or greater earthquakes from Mar. 19 till around 7 pm on Sat. Mar. 26 at http://weathernews.jp/quake/ and http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/quake_singendo_index.html, and then all Intensity 5 or greater earthquakes from 3/19 back to the initial 2:46 pm M9.0 earthquake on 3/11 at http://typhoon.yahoo.co.jp/weather/jp/earthquake/. Then for each earthquake, I compared Japanese seismic intensity readings with Richter Scale magnitudes, and established min./max. Richter Scale magnitude boundaries for each Japanese seismic intensity (Shindo) category, as follows:

Japanese Intensity  (Shindo)  Scale Richter  Magnitude Scale
1
2
3
4
5-
5+
6-
6+
7
1.1-5.0
1.9-4.8
2.5-5.9
4.7-6.3
4.4-7.0
4.7-6.6
5.3-7.4
6.0-6.6
9.0
(for Japan earthquakes
btw. Mar. 11-26, 2011)

As you can see, the values were all over the map, and so in my very "scientific" study there obviously doesn't seem to be much correlation between the Japanese seismic intensity scale and the Richter magnitude scale (although there might be with a more detailed "straight-line fit" type of analysis). But it was interesting nonetheless to see some Shindo 1 & 2 earthquakes with higher Richter magnitudes than a number of Shindo 4 & 5 earthquakes. Well...it was a fun exercise anyways. smiley

Mar. 27, 2011 10:00 (JST):  Japan: Will anyone move back to tsunami hit towns? - Two weeks after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan temporary homes are being built for survivors. More than 10,000 people are now known to have died, with many more still missing. Nearly a quarter of a million people are sheltering in evacuation centres, such as schools. The video of BBC's Roland Buerk's report from one of the worst hit towns, Rikuzentakata, is no longer available at YouTube.

Mar. 27, 2011 7:30 (JST):  Doctors Without Borders supports psychologists working in disasters' aftermath in Japan - Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres, is supporting a team of six psychologists who will treat survivors of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit northeast Japan on March 11. For the past two weeks, a 12-person team has been treating patients with chronic diseases in one of the areas worst affected by the disasters. A psychologist was also sent in earlier this week to evaluate mental health needs, according to the organization's website. (Source: stripes.com)

Mar. 27, 2011 0:14 (JST):  Researcher warned 2 yrs. ago of massive tsunami striking nuke plant
- A researcher said Saturday he had warned two years ago about the possible risk of a massive tsunami hitting a nuclear power plant in Japan, but Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crippled by the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, had brushed off the warning. According to the researcher, Yukinobu Okamura, and the records of a government council where he made the warning, TEPCO asserted that there was flexibility in the quake resistance design of its plants and expressed reluctance to raise the assumption of possible quake damage citing a lack of sufficient information. (Source: Kyodo News)

Mar. 26, 23:35 (JST):  Will Fukushima spell TEPCO's doom?
- Formed in 1951, TEPCO is the 4th largest power company in the world, supplying about one-third of Japan's electricity. Some of Japan's most densely populated and economically important areas get their power supply from TEPCO. Analysts say the damage at the Fukushima plant may see reactors being shut down and the crisis will make it difficult for TEPCO to use nuclear energy as a power source for some time to come. That means TEPCO will have to fall back on traditional sources of power generation such as coal and fuel, which will make its operations more expensive and hurt profits. More...

Tokyo 3-hr. rolling blackouts
Daily 3-hr. rolling blackouts darken entire sections of Tokyo

Mar. 26, 2011 15:30 (JST):  Tokyo U.S. Embassy Makes Potassium Iodide Tablets
Available to Private U.S. Citizens - As a precautionary measure, the U.S. Embassy is continuing to make potassium iodide (KI) tablets available to private U.S. citizens who have not been able to obtain it from their physician, employer, or other sources. At this time, the tablets are available Monday through Friday (until further notice) at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo at 1-10-5 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and at the New Sanno Hotel at 4-12-20, Minami-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Source: U.S. Embassy Tokyo)

Mar. 26, 2011 9:40 (JST):  Breach possible at troubled Japanese power plant
- A possible breach at Japan's troubled nuclear plant escalated the crisis anew Friday, two full weeks after an earthquake and tsunami first compromised the facility. The development suggested radioactive contamination may be worse than first thought, with tainted groundwater the most likely consequence. Japanese leaders defended their decision not to evacuate people from a wider area around the plant, insisting they are safe if they stay indoors. But officials also said residents may want to voluntarily move to areas with better facilities, since supplies in the tsunami-devastated region are running short. (Source: stripes.com)

Mar. 26, 2011 7:35 (JST):  Marines help clear out Sendai Airport after tsunami - U.S. Marines deployed to Sendai Airport from Camp Fuji began clearing the site Thursday morning. Two weeks after one of Japan's worst disasters, the cleanup at Sendai Airport remains the crowning achievement of U.S. military relief efforts in Miyagi Prefecture, about 200 miles northeast of Tokyo. Since Sunday, Marines with the Combined Arms Training Center at Camp Fuji had been towing away hundreds of vehicles that were jammed into and around the passenger terminal of the airport, and have now cleared the runway of hundreds of wrecked cars and other debris enabling the airport to receive humanitarian aid. (Source: Stars & Stripes)

US marines help clear out Sendai Airport
(Photo credit: Travis J. Tritten, Stars & Stripes)

Second week updates continued here: Strongest Ever Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, News updates for Mar. 19-25, 2011


More Japan quake/tsunami news updates...
 
News updates for Mar. 19-25, 2011 (2nd week)
News updates for Mar. 12-18, 2011 (original page - 1st week 
after Mar. 11, 2011 quake)  
 


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