It triggered a tsunami that unleashed a menacing stew of debris with objects as large as ships, cars and houses coursing over the countryside and into towns, crushing buildings and everything in its path. The earthquake, the fifth largest in recorded history and the largest ever to hit Japan, struck about 2:46 p.m. Five million households lack electricity. There are 200,000 people living in temporary shelters after being evacuated to higher ground and more than 1 million households are without water. Tsunami survivors were plucked by helicopters and from rooftops, but hundreds more along the 1,300-mile stretch of coastline are waiting to be rescued. Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he dispatched 50,000 troops for recovery efforts as powerful aftershocks continue to rattle the region. Meanwhile, Japanese authorities are racing to rescue those trapped in the rubble after an 8.9 magnitude earthquake and a tsunami left hundreds dead and a nuclear reactor on the verge of a possible of meltdown. Japanese authorities say they have plans to distribute iodine to residents in the area around both the Fukushima Daiichi and nearby Fukushima Daini plants. Japanese government officials and the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, have not provided any clarity as to how the plant will look when the cleanup ends.Three evacuees have been exposed to radiation, but have not shown signs of illness, a disaster official told The Associated Press. Japanese officials said that they hope to finish the decommissioning process within the next 30 years, although many experts believe that the timetable is optimistic. Bloomberg via Getty ImagesĪ massive earthquake and a tsunami in March 2011 destroyed cooling systems at the Fukushima plant in northeastern Japan, triggering meltdowns in three reactors in the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl accident, according to the Associated Press. The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images A worker moves bags of nuclear waste in an evacuation zone area damaged by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tomioka, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, in 2016. Tanks holding radiation-contaminated water are seen in the premises of Tokyo Electric Power Co’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on Apin Okuma, Fukushima, Japan. “We need to gather more information on the fuel debris and more experience on the retrieval of the fuel debris to know if the plan can be completed as expected in the next 30 years,” said Christophe Xerri, head of IAEA, at a press conference after he and a colleague submitted a report on their recent findings to the Japanese government Friday. Scientists working for the International Atomic Energy Agency reviewing the progress of the Fukushima plant’s clean-up say that Japan has been slow to examine the melted fuel inside the reactors.Īnd they’re worried that the country will be unable to meet a 2051 target to clean up the mess, according to a report. Japan to start releasing Fukushima water into sea in 2 yearsĪ team of United Nations experts is urging Japan to investigate nuclear reactors damaged a decade ago by a massive earthquake and tsunami. Radioactive wild boar-pigs hogging region near Fukushima nuclear disasterįukushima surfer, shop owner alarmed at water release plan, fears ‘contaminated sea’ IAEA: Science, objectivity key to Fukushima water release
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