HTH -- Haiti Earthquake

April 1, 2011. Evacuation around Japan's Fukushima Daiichi will be long term

SOURCE: Altegrity Risk International

The evacuation of residents near Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant "will be long-term," with many of the tens of thousands of evacuees possibly forced to find new places to live, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on April 1st. The announcement came as high levels of radiation were detected for the first time in groundwater near one of the facilities' six reactors. As of April 1st, the death toll from the March 11th 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami reached 11,500, with nearly 16,500 remaining unaccounted for. Some 24,000 Japanese and U.S. soldiers, 100 military aircraft, and 65 ships took part in an extensive search for any remaining bodies. The operation is largely carried out by air and sea as many coastal areas remain largely inaccessible by foot or road.

The search did not include the 20km (12 miles) evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant due to radiation leaks, with Japanese officials resisting calls from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to expand the exclusion zone to at least 40km (25 miles). Japanese officials also said that highly radioactive water continued to leak at the plant and for the first time had been found in groundwater 15m below reactor No. 1. The Japanese health ministry, meanwhile, widened its halt on shipments of some vegetables, dairy produce, and seafood from the four prefectures surrounding the plant to include beef. Officials, however, insisted that no water or food contamination had reached levels that would be harmful.