Tokyo, March 25: Japan has announced that nearly 28,000 people have died or are feared dead as a result of the disastrous quake and tsunami that hit the country two weeks ago.
Japan’s National Police Agency said on Friday that more than 10,000 people have been confirmed dead, while about 17,440 others are still missing.
Search operations are underway in the most-devastated northeast where the disaster has flattened the entire towns in the area.
Meanwhile, efforts continue to restore the cooling system at the quake-stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. Sources say radiation levels within 30 kilometers of the plant are now higher than normal levels.
Fears are growing as more signs of radioactive contamination have been found in vegetables, fish, milk and water supplies. Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Canada and Russia have banned some foods imported from Japan.
On Wednesday, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered a halt in shipment of a range of farm products, as radiation was detected in vegetables from Fukushima prefecture.
Tokyo’s water supply is also found to be contaminated with radioactive iodine, going well past safe levels, making the water unfit for babies to drink.
Crisis persists in four reactors at Fukushima power plant, the epicenter of the nuclear threat, and engineers are trying to restart water pumps.
However, radiation wounds to workers have worsened the situation. On Thursday, three workers that were replacing a cable at one of the reactors were exposed to high levels of radiation. They were immediately taken to a hospital for treatment.
The quake is now considered Japan’s deadliest natural disaster since the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake that claimed the lives of more than 142,000 people.
—-Agencies