Tokyo, April 08: Japan has begun a search mission for those missing within a 10-20 kilometer (6-12 mile) radius of Fukushima nuclear power plant that was hit by a destructive quake and tsunami.
On Thursday, a team of 300 Japanese police officers wearing radiation protective clothing searched the city of Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture to find the missing people.
A devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 in Japan’s northern coast set off a nuclear crisis by knocking out power to cooling systems of reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing radiation leaks.
The government ordered the evacuation of about 200,000 people living in a 20-kilometer radius around the plant, and told people residing between 20 kilometers and 30 kilometers from the plant to remain indoors.
On April 1, Japan conducted a three-day intensive search program which covered shores that were largely submerged or still remain under water and mouths of major rivers in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures.
The search however did not cover the 30-kilometer radius of the quake-hit Fukushima power plant, where radiation levels remain high.
On March 31, Kyodo News Agency reported that as many as 1,000 bodies of victims of the earthquake and tsunami have been left untouched within the evacuation zone around the Fukushima plant.
——–Agencies