Tokyo, April 02: Japan’s prime minister has made his first visit to areas ruined by a massive earthquake and tsunami three weeks ago, vowing full support for victims of the brewing disaster.
Under intense pressure over his belated move to visit the tsunami zone, Naoto Kan on Saturday flew on a military helicopter from Tokyo into the tsunami-wrecked city of Rikuzentakata, which was all but obliterated by the March 11 earthquake,
He then visited survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in the city, who have since been living in makeshift shelters. Kan flew over hard-hit areas a day after the quake, but a planned visit on March 21 was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.
“It will be a long battle, but the government will be working hard together with you until the end. I want everyone to do their best,” Kan said in a school that is now an evacuation compound.
At least 1,049 people are confirmed dead and 1,253 are still missing in Rikuzentakata, 400 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of Tokyo with a pre-disaster population of nearly 25,000.
As the post-quake tragedy in Japan enters its fourth week, the National Police Agency said on Saturday that the death toll from the catastrophic earthquake and ensuing tsunami has now topped 11,800 people, while 15,540 others are unaccounted for.
Meanwhile, the crisis at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant remains unresolved as latest reports say that tsunami-stricken nuclear plant is leaking highly radioactive water into the sea.
The plant has been spewing radioactivity since March 11, when a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami knocked out power, disabling cooling systems and allowing radiation to seep out of the overheating reactors.
According to Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the water was oozing Saturday from a newly discovered crack in a maintenance pit on the edge of the Fukushima’s Daiichi nuclear site into the Pacific Ocean.
The government has ordered the evacuation of about 200,000 people living in a 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) radius around the plant, and told people residing between 20 kilometers and 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from the plant to remain indoors.
Later on Saturday, Kan is scheduled to enter the 20-kilometer evacuation zone around Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
—Agencies