tsunami

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Japan's Search for Bodies Enters Evacuation Zone

Officers race against time as bodies decompose

(Newser) - Clad in protective suits, some 340 police officers began the search for bodies within the 12-mile evacuation zone surrounding the Fukushima plant today. Nearly four weeks have passed since the earthquake, and some 4,200 who lived within the zone remain missing, reports the New York Times . Officials now say...

Japan Fallout: What That Radioactive Water Means

Effect should be limited experts say

(Newser) - Should the Japanese be worried about the tens of thousands of tons of radioactive water that Tokyo Electric started dumping into the Pacific yesterday? Yes and no. The water around the Fukushima plant is likely to be contaminated for years, experts tell the Wall Street Journal , but the danger elsewhere...

Tsunami Dog 'Ban' Back With Owner

Pooch was plucked from house wreckage after 3 weeks at sea

(Newser) - Ban, the Japanese wonder dog who survived the tsunami and three weeks adrift in the wreckage of his home, is back with his owner, reports Gawker. And yes, this pales in comparison to the ongoing humanitarian crisis over there, writes Maureen O'Connor, and we should "give a damn about...

Two Workers' Bodies Recovered at Fukushima

Plant continues to leak highly radioactive water into the sea

(Newser) - The bodies of two workers have been recovered at Fukushima Dai-ichi, the first confirmed fatalities at the foundering nuclear plant. The men had rushed to check equipment in the basement in the wake of the 9.0 earthquake, reports the LA Times —and autopsies confirmed they were killed in...

Japanese Wonder Dog Survives Tsunami, High Seas

Dog rescued by coast guard off the northern coast of Japan

(Newser) - Get Disney on the line. While conducting last-ditch search and rescue efforts off the northern coast of Japan, the coast guard discovered what might be the world's most resilient dog, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Rescuers spotted him atop the floating debris of a house that had washed away, and...

Fukushima's Disaster Plan: A Stretcher and a Fax

Plant was woefully unprepared for natural disaster

(Newser) - Tokyo Electric Power Co. had a disaster plan in place at its Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, but certainly not a very thorough one: It only involved one stretcher, and relied heavily on a satellite phone and fax machine for emergency communications. In a look at the plan, the Wall Street ...

Tokyo Electric Will Scrap Fukushima Reactors

Tokyo Electric Power cannot recover reactors 1-4

(Newser) - After three weeks, Tokyo Electric Power still has not been able to bring the first four reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant under control, and the company now says that they will all be decommissioned. “We have no choice but to scrap” them, said the company’s chairman,...

Japanese PM: We're on 'Maximum Alert'

But experts say fear over plutonium in soil may be overblown

(Newser) - With fears escalating over the plutonium leaking into the soil around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, Japanese officials sounded a cautious note today, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan telling lawmakers that the government would “tackle the problem while in a state of maximum alert,” according to the Economic Times...

Inside the Hell That Is Fukushima

Little sleep, food, water; plenty of stress, danger, misery

(Newser) - As if risking their lives to work feverishly to avoid nuclear meltdown wasn't grim enough, there's no respite for the weary workers at Japan's hobbled Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. A Japanese nuclear official who just returned from five days at Fukushima paints a picture of life on the inside, reports the...

Latest Casualty of World's Upheaval: Media Budgets

From Libya to Japan, the money's running out

(Newser) - There’s been a lot of news around the world in 2011—too much, in fact, for some news organizations to handle. Japan, Libya, and Egypt have stretched already tight cable and broadcast news budgets to the breaking point, The Wrap reports. “We've already had a year's worth of...

Fukushima: Big Radiation Spike Was Wrong

Worker fled before taking second reading

(Newser) - That big spike in radiation levels 10 million times normal that Fukushima Dai-ichi reported earlier? Inaccurate, red-faced officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co now say. "The number is not credible," says a spokesman. "We are very sorry." The apology came after employees fled the complex's Unit...

Japan Radiation Hits Las Vegas
 Japan Radiation Hits Las Vegas 
Mar 27, 2011 5:59 AM CDT

Japan Radiation Hits Las Vegas

What happens in Fukushima does not stay in Fukushima at all

(Newser) - The amounts are tiny, but radiation from Japan's crippled nuclear plant has reached all the way to Las Vegas, reports the AP. Minuscule amounts of iodine-131 and xenon-133 reached a monitoring station in Sin City, though scientists emphasized it posed no health risks. "Unless you have an accident like...

Radiation in Fukushima, Nearby Waters Spikes

Radioactive iodine hits 10 million times normal level, forcing evacuation

(Newser) - Radiation is spiking both in and around the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, forcing workers to evacuate the plant. Radioactive iodine in water leaking from the No. 2 reactor's turbine housing unit soared to 10 million times the usual limit, said Tokyo Electric Power Co., where workers had been struggling...

Japan Earthquake, Tsunami Death Toll Passes 10K
 Japan Death Toll 
 Passes 10K 
Mar 25, 2011 6:00 AM CDT

Japan Death Toll Passes 10K

17K still missing as concern grows over food, water

(Newser) - A sad milestone out of Japan: Two weeks after the quake struck, its official death toll has broken the 10,000 mark—and that number is still on the rise, with more than 17,400 missing. Police estimate the toll will surpass 15,000 in the hardest-hit prefecture alone. Among...

2 Japan Nuke Plant Workers Hospitalized

Tainted water 'seeped' through protective clothes

(Newser) - A pair of nuclear workers in Japan have been hospitalized amid concerns of exposure to radiation, the BBC reports. They had been laying cable at Fukushima Dai-ichi’s No. 3 reactor in an effort to fix its cooling system. “Although they wore protective clothing," said a spokesman, "...

Japan Resorts to Mass Graves
 Japan Resorts to Mass Graves 
Mar 23, 2011 2:16 PM CDT

Japan Resorts to Mass Graves

Quake left too many dead to cremate

(Newser) - Thanks to the earthquake, the Japanese have been forced to do a lot of something they usually avoid at all costs: burying their dead. Japan’s Buddhist traditions dictate that bodies should be cremated, and the ashes stored in family tombs; burial is outright illegal in many places. But with...

Baby Dolphin Rescued From Japan Tsunami Trap
 Baby Dolphin 
 Rescued From 
 Rice Paddy 
TSUNAMI AFTERMATH
Mar 23, 2011 1:37 PM CDT

Baby Dolphin Rescued From Rice Paddy

Man pulls animal out, drives it to sea

(Newser) - A baby dolphin trapped in a flooded rice paddy after Japan’s tsunami has been returned to the sea, Reuters reports. "A man passing by said he had found the dolphin in the rice paddy and that we had to do something to save it," says a pet...

Regulators Ignored Warning Signs at Fukushima

Despite noted problems, an extension was granted for oldest reactor

(Newser) - Government regulators were concerned about the oldest reactor at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant—but still approved a 10-year extension for reactor No. 1, just a month before the devastating earthquake and tsunami that landed the country in its current nuclear crisis. A report from the regulatory committee noted...

First American Victim of Japan Tsunami Confirmed

Taylor Anderson, 24, was last seen biking home from the school where she taught

(Newser) - From Japan, fresh heartbreak that truly hits home: The first known American victim of the earthquake has been confirmed. "It is with deep regret that we inform you that earlier this morning we received a call from the US Embassy in Japan that they had found our beloved Taylor's...

North Korea: Use Your Dog as an Earthquake Alarm

State media looks to animals' 'sixth sense' for disaster

(Newser) - North Korea has a team of experts ready to alert the country to impending earthquakes—the only trouble is, its members can’t talk. State news media has encouraged citizens to look to their pets for notice of coming natural disasters, advising North Koreans to watch for dogs barking furiously,...

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