One Day in Port-au-Prince: The Sex Worker, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Japan expands nuclear evacuation zone, new quake hits, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* High radiation forces extention of evacuations

* 7.1 magnitude quake triggers tsunami alert

* Voter anger at nuclear crisis hits PM Kan's party

* No end in sight to month-long nuclear crisis (Updates with strong quake and tsunami alert, evacuation details)

By Yoko Kubota and Yoko Nishikawa

TOKYO, April 11 (Reuters) - Japan on Monday expanded the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high levels of accumulated radiation, as a strong aftershock rattled the area one month after a quake and tsunami sparked the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

A magnitude 7.1 tremor shook buildings in Tokyo and a wide swathe of eastern Japan on Monday evening, triggering a small tsunami alert. NHK state television said it caused the off-site power supply for two damaged reactors to shut down.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the aftershock struck 38 km (24 miles) west of the city of Iwaki, at a depth of 13 km (8 miles).

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) , which operates the plant, said workers had stopped pouring cooling water on reactors No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 at Fukushima.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said villages and towns outside the 20 km (12 mile) evacuation zone that have had more accumulated radiation would be evacuated. Children, pregnant women, and hospitalised patients should stay out of some areas 20-30 km from the Fukushima nuclear complex, he added.

The decision to widen the evacuation band around the Fukushima plant was "based on data analysis of accumulated radiation exposure information", Edano told a news conference.

"These new evacuation plans are meant to ensure safety against risks of living there for half a year or one year," he said. There was no need to evacuate immediately, he added.

Japan had resisted extending the zone despite international concerns over radiation spreading from the six damaged reactors at Fukushima, which engineers are still struggling to bring under control after they were wrecked by the 15-metre tsunami.

Residents of one village, Iitate, which is 40 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, have been told to prepare for evacuation because of prolonged exposure to radiation, a local official told Reuters by phone. It has a population of 5,000.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has urged Japan to extend the zone and some countries, including the United States, have advised their citizens to stay 80 km away from the plant.

TEPCO President Masataka Shimizu visited the area on Monday for the first time the March 11 disaster. He had all but vanished from public view apart from a brief apology shortly after the crisis began and has spent some of the time since in hospital.

"I would like to deeply apologise again for causing physical and psychological hardships to people of Fukushima prefecture and near the nuclear plant," said a grim-faced Shimizu.

Dressed in a blue work jacket, he bowed his head for a moment of silence with other TEPCO officials at 2:46 p.m. (0546 GMT), exactly a month after the earthquake hit.

Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato refused to meet Shimizu during his visit, but the TEPCO boss left a business card at the government office.

Sato has criticised the evacuation policy, saying residents in a 20-30 km radius were initially told to stay indoors and then advised to evacuate voluntarily.

RADIOACTIVE WATER

Engineers at the damaged Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said they were no closer to restoring the plant's cooling system which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control.

In a desperate move to cool highly radioactive fuel rods, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) <9501.t> has pumped water onto reactors, some of which have experienced partial meltdown.

But the strategy has hindered moves to restore the plant's internal cooling system, critical to end the crisis, as engineers have had to focus how to store 60,000 tonnes of contaminated water.

Engineers have been forced to pump low-level radioactive water, left by the tsunami, back into the sea in order to free up storage capacity for highly contaminated water from reactors.

China and South Korea have both criticised Japan for pumping radioactive water into the sea, with Seoul calling it incompetent, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long atomic disaster and the spread of radiation.

TEPCO hopes to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean on Monday, days later than planned.

Engineers are also pumping nitrogen into reactors to counter a build-up of hydrogen and prevent another explosion sending more radiation into the air, but they say the risk of such a dramatic event has lowered significantly since March 11.

POLITICAL FALLOUT

The triple disaster is the worst to hit Japan since World War Two after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and a huge tsunami battered its northeast coast, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing and rocking the world's third-largest economy.

Concern at Japan's inability contain its nuclear crisis is mounting with Prime Minister Kan's ruling party suffering embarrassing losses in local elections on Sunday.

Voters vented their anger at the government's handling of the nuclear and humanitarian crisis, with Kan's ruling Democratic Party of Japan losing nearly 70 seats in local elections. [ID:nL3E7FA09V]

The unpopular Kan was already under pressure to step down before March 11, but analysts say he is unlikely to be forced out during the crisis, set to drag on for months.

"The great disaster was a double tragedy for Japan. The first tragedy was the catastrophe caused by the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear accident. The other misfortune was that the disaster resulted in prolonging Prime Minister Kan's time in office," Sankei newspaper said in an editorial on Monday. ($1=85.475 Japanese yen) (Additional reporting by Issei Kato, Shinichi Saoshiro, Chisa Fujioka, Elaine Lies, Masahiro Koike and Linda Sieg in Tokyo; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Alex Richardson)

Close to 30,000 dead or missing in Japana and disaster still brewing, Posted by Meosha Eaton

According to the latest reports, there are over 28,000 deaths and missing persons in lieu of the recent March 11 earthquake and tusanami. It appears that the situation continues to get worse for Japan with the recent nuclear and radiation crisis.  What is next? It's hard to say with the radiation leak still not under control.

Hundreds of engineers have been toiling for nearly three weeks to cool the plant's reactors and avert a meltdown of fuel rods. While that scenario has receded, highly tainted water has been found in some reactors and in concrete tunnels outside.

Readings have also showed radioactive iodine in the sea off the plant at record levels and radiation has been in tap water in Tokyo and in tiny traces abroad.

Experts say a lack of information and some inconsistent data have made it hard to understand what is happening at Fukushima, which appears to have moved from a core-meltdown phase to one in which the management of released radioactivity is paramount.

The situation has taken a new turn with contaminated water, causing officials to call on France nuclear experts for assistance.

The head of the French nuclear reactor maker -- one of France's most powerful female executives -- travelled to Tokyo with three French experts in radioactive water contamination.

The French experts will be based in the Tokyo area and not at the acual nuclear site.
Their participation could help facilitate the developments on the disaster.

Radiation found on Japan passengers to Taiwan, S.Korea, Posted by Meosha Eaton

TAIPEI/SEOUL, March 17 (Reuters) - About 25 passengers arriving in Taiwan from Japan were observed with levels of slightly higher exposure to radiation, a government official said on Thursday.

Authorities in South Korea had earlier reported unusually high radiation levels on three passengers arriving from Japan.

The Taiwan official, part of the government's atomic energy council, told Reuters by telephone that the 25 passengers had arrived from various Japanese cities and had "slightly higher" levels than normal.

The official provided no further details. He said the government had set up monitoring posts to subject arriving passengers to tests. No further measures were planned.

In Seoul, the Yonhap news agency quoted officials as saying that a Japanese man in his 50s arriving at Incheon airport had a reading exceeding 1 microsievert from his hat and coat, several times the normal reading.

He was believed to have lived in Fukushima prefecture, site of the nuclear power station damaged in last week's big earthquake and tsunami.

The level posed no public health risk and officials will release the three passengers, YTN television said.

South Korea's nuclear safety agency has said it considers 300 nanosieverts per hour as the ceiling of a normal level of radiation in atmosphere. One microsievert translates to 1,000 nanosieverts.

The checks at the airport were voluntary, a Reuters photographer at the airport said.

Vice Science Minister Kim Chang-kyung told lawmakers on Thursday that officials were preparing to set up monitoring devices at the southern port of Busan soon to measure radiation levels on ferry passengers arriving from Japan. (Reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Rachel Lee in Taipei; Editing by Ron Popeski and Jeremy Laurence

Q+A: What do latest events at Japan nuclear power plant mean? Posted by Meosha Eaton

By Elaine Lies

March 16 (Reuters) - Japan's nuclear crisis worsened on Wednesday, with workers ordered to withdraw briefly from the stricken power plant after radiation levels spiked, just hours after smoke was seen rising from the quake-crippled nuclear facility.


Q: What does the smoke mean?

A: The smoke is most likely to be steam, a natural byproduct of pouring water into the reactors to cool them down and keep the fuel rods covered. Authorities are also trying to maintain water levels at a spent-fuel storage pool at the plant's No. 4 reactor, which experts now view as the real threat.

The steam is an issue because it contains radioactive particles, but experts say these particles may not be as serious as, say, an explosion within a reactor core. So far, it appears the radiation is mostly escaping in the form of steam and some experts believe the radioactive particles could merely be dust or from rusted structures within the reactor buildings -- known as "crud" within the nuclear industry. Radiation levels have not risen significantly in Tokyo, about 240 km to the south.


Q: Why is the situation at the spent-fuel pool a worry?

A: Unlike the reactors themselves, which are inside two containers -- a massive steel container as well as one made of concrete -- the fuel pools are not, with meters of water on top of the rods providing safety only under normal circumstances. Another concern with reactor No. 4 is that the water levels in the pool could be falling, perhaps because the water is or has been boiling and is evaporating as steam.

While nobody knows exactly how much damage Tuesday's explosion did to the building, the structure does have holes and some experts have said that proposals to drop boric acid particles on the reactor suggest substantial holes in the roof.

"That's got to be protected. I'd hate to see another explosion there," said Murray Jennex, a professor at San Diego State University in California.


Q: What can be done?

A: Dropping boric acid could be helpful since it is both a fire suppressant and also absorbs radiation, while keeping water levels up in the pool is also essential. Finally, a fresh crew of workers should be sent into the plant since those who are in there are likely exhausted and may be making poor decisions, which could be adding to problems.


Q: What about the spent-fuel pools at the other reactors?

A: There are six reactors at the Daiichi complex. Three of them - no. 4 through No.6 - were offline for maintenance at the time of the quake. There are signs that water temperatures are also rising at No.5 and No.6 spent-fuel pools.

But the spent fuel at these two pools, as well as at the three reactors that were online at the time of the quake, is all older and thus less likely to pose an overheating threat.


Q: What about the other reactors?

A: There have been explosions at reactors No.1, No.2 and No.3, and suspicions that the suppression pool at No. 2 may have been damaged. But experts say that current low radiation levels suggest that the container vessels at these reactors are by and large holding, and that they're actually more optimistic about this situation than they were on Tuesday.

Doubt does remain about possible damage to the suppression pool at No. 2, but these are "overdesigned" to cope with a certain amount of damage.


Q: What do we need to watch out for?

A: Steadily rising radiation levels are the main worry, along with a fall in the water level in the spent fuel pool. Radiation levels at the plant's main gate spiked on Wednesday morning but have since fallen back, which is a good sign.

"If we have the water level doing down and rising radiation, that's a bad sign, because this means more and more of this fuel (is) exposed," said Najm Meshati, professor of civil and environmental engineering, at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles.

(Editing by Mark Bendeich

UN News: Earthquake and tsunami in Japan - Ban Ki-moon Media Stakeout , Posted by Menelik Zeleke

11 March 2011
Informal comments to the media by H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan

Food and water shortage at earthquake shelter in Sendai, Japan, Posted by Meosha Eaton

More than 3,000 residents in Sendai, Japan took shelter at a suburban high school of the city after the 9-magnitude earthquake devastated their homes. Due to the current shortage of food and water supply, only children and seniors at and above 75 years old are provided with food at the emergency shelter.

Each of the people taking shelter here has a ration of only two bottles of water every day. As the access to the disaster area is cut off, the shipment of good, especially food and drinking water, to Sendai is also blocked.

Food supply to the shelter dwellers has come to a halt as of today. Still people have to live here, as their own homes are no longer in existence or safe after the catastrophic earthquake. Given the constant aftershocks at present, the shelter is the best place they could find for the time being.

"I moved here yesterday," said a young woman. "How is your own home?" asked the reporter. "Its appearance looks ok, but inside it's all a mess," said the young woman.

"My home is gone completely, with the TV set and other things rocked down everywhere, and it's dangerous to go back there," said a woman.

"Have you got a food ration?" asked the reporter.
"No, only children and seniors at and above 75 years old are entitled to a food ration," answered the woman.

For any questions please call +86-10-63969499, or email newscontent@cctv.com. If you want to learn more, please go to the CCTV website at http://newscontent.cctv.com.

Japan, Libya to dominate at G8 formin meeting, Posted by Meosha Eaton

* G8 foreign ministers to meet in Paris Monday, Tuesday
* Japan quake, Libya crisis set to dominate agenda

By John Irish


PARIS, March 13 (Reuters) -

The earthquake disaster in Japan looks set to dominate a Group of Eight foreign ministers meeting this week in Paris as members discuss ways to coordinate help for the only Asian country in the group. The crisis over Libya will also be a key issue, with the international community seeking to agree on how to stop a violent crackdown in the North African state by leader Muammar Gaddafi's government forces.

Japan was trying on Sunday to avert a disastrous meltdown at two nuclear reactors, crippled by a major earthquake on Friday that caused a tsunami estimated to have killed more than 10,000 people.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe pledged aid to the Japanese, offering expertise in nuclear plant safety and help in clearing up wreckage and finding buried victims. Two rescue teams were preparing to fly to Japan. Juppe and the other G8 foreign ministers are expected to look to co-ordinate the rescue and aid effort.

"Japan is a historic member of the G8, so we will definitely be showing solidarity," a French diplomatic source said. Japan's foreign minister is still scheduled to attend the meeting, a Japanese embassy official in Paris said on Sunday.

British Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne said this weekend that a "really big coordinated international response" was needed and that Britain was playing a full part.
The fast-moving situation in Libya is also set to be a focal point for the G8 foreign ministers, the diplomatic source said.

"The current international situation will invite itself onto the programme and the ministers will study the various options (for Libya)," the source said. Libyan leader Gaddafi's forces appear to have regained the momentum in the three-week-old conflict inspired by popular revolts in Tunisia and Egypt.

Gaddafi's troops forced outgunned Libyan rebels to retreat eastwards on Sunday and laid siege to pockets of resistance, unimpeded by diplomatic efforts to impose a no-fly zone. Paris has been playing a leading role in the international response to the uprising, especially in its calls with Britain to secure U.N. support for a no-fly zone resolution.

Those calls have met some reluctance from fellow G8 members Russia and the United States as well as non-G8 China. At Friday's EU leaders summit, an airborne military option also appeared to be played down, specifically by Germany.

The United States said this weekend a call by the Arab League for such a no-fly zone was an "important step", but while Washington said it was preparing for "all contingencies" it has remained cautious over endorsing direct military intervention.

"The G8 foreign ministers ... will be an opportunity to widen the international coalition addressing the crisis in Libya," British Foreign Minister William Hague said. "And to reaffirm our collective support for political transition in Egypt and Tunisia."

U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton will make her first visit to France since new foreign minister Juppe took charge before she heads on to the North African states.

The two-day event begins informally with the eight ministers meeting President Nicolas Sarkozy at his Elysee Palace on Monday before officially kicking off at 2000 (1900 GMT), and ending the following day around 1500 (1400 GMT).

The talks will also touch on Iran's nuclear programme and at ways to revive the Middle East peace process in preparation for a G8 leaders summit in the northern seaside resort of Deauville at the end of May.

(Editing by Myra MacDonald)

* Quake, wall of water kill at least 44
    * Now Pacific islands at threat from tsunami
    * Houses, ships, cars tossed around like toys
   
    By Chisa Fujioka and Elaine Lies
    TOKYO, March 11 (Reuters) - The biggest earthquake to hit
Japan on record struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering
a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path,
including houses, ships, cars and farm buildings on fire.
    The Red Cross in Geneva said the wall of water was higher
than some Pacific islands and a tsunami warning was issued for
almost the entire Pacific basin.
    At least 44 people had been killed in the quake and tsunami
in Japan, broadcaster NHK said, adding that many were missing.
The extent of the destruction along a lengthy stretch of Japan's
coastline suggested the death toll could rise significantly.
    The 8.9 magnitude quake, the most powerful since Japan
started keeping records 140 years ago, caused many injuries and
sparked fires while the tsunami prompted warnings to people to
move to higher ground in coastal areas.
    "The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in
northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters.
    Some nuclear power plants and oil refineries were shut down
and a refinery was ablaze.
             


    Around 4.4 million homes were without power in northern
Japan, media said. A hotel collapsed in the city of Sendai and
people were feared buried in the rubble.
    A ship carrying 100 people had been swept away by the
tsunami, Kyodo news agency added.
    Electronics giant Sony Corp , one of the country's
biggest exporters, shut six factories, as air force jets raced
toward the northeast coast to determine the extent of the
damage. 
    The Bank of Japan, which has been struggling to boost the
anaemic economy, said it would do its utmost to ensure financial
market stability as the yen and Japanese shares fell.
    "I was terrified and I'm still frightened," said Hidekatsu
Hata, 36, manager of a Chinese noodle restaurant in Tokyo, where
buildings shook violently. "I've never experienced such a big
quake before."
    The Philippine and Indonesia issued tsunami alerts, reviving
memories of the giant tsunami which struck Asia in 2004. The
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued alerts for countries to
the west and across the Pacific as far away as Colombia and
Peru.
    The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world
in the past century.
    There were several strong aftershocks. In Tokyo, there was
widespread panic. An oil refinery near the city was on fire,
with dozens of storage tanks under threat.
    "People are flooding the streets. It's incredible. Everyone
is trying to get home but I didn't see any taxis in Ginza, where
there are usually plenty," said Koji Goto, a 43-year-old Tokyo
resident.
    TV footage showed a muddy wall of water carrying debris
across a large swathe of coastal farmland near the city of
Sendai, which has a population of one million. Ships in once
coastal area were lifted from the sea into a harbour where they
lay helplessly on their side.
    Sendai is 300 km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo and the
epicentre at sea was not far away.
    NHK television showed flames and black smoke billowing from
a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the
north of the country were halted.    Thick smoke was also
pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama's Isogo area. TV
showed residents of the city running out of shaking buildings,
shielding their heads with their hands from falling masonry.
    TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks tossed around like
toys in the water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi
in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to
have collapsed and cars were turning around and speeding away. 
Kyodo said there were reports of fires in Sendai where waves
carried cars across the runway at the airport.
    "The building shook for what seemed a long time and many
people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under
their desks," Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo.
"It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan
more than 20 years ago."
    The U.S. navy said its ships had been unaffected by the
tsunami and were ready to provide disaster relief if needed.
China offered to provide earthquake relief.
    The quake struck just before the Tokyo stock market closed,
pushing the Nikkei down to end at a five-week low. Nikkei
futures trading in Osaka tumbled as much as 4.7 percent in
reaction to the news.
    The disaster also weighed on markets elsewhere.
   
    GREAT KANTO QUAKE    The quake was the biggest since records
began 140 years ago, according to the Japan Meteorological
Agency. It surpasses the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923,
which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people
in the Tokyo area.
    The 1995 Kobe quake caused $100 billion in damage and was
the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage
from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10
billion.
    Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed
other passengers' hands during the quake. The shaking was so bad
it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.
    Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into
Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown
Tokyo.
    Household goods ranging from toilet paper to clingfilm were
flung into the street from outdoor shelves in front of a
drugstore.
    Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to
the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first
quake subsided, crowds watched and pointed to construction
cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying,
"They're still shaking!", "Are they going to fall?"
    Asagi Machida, 27, a web designer in Tokyo, sprinted from a
coffee shop when the quake hit.
    "The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh
in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn't believe such a big
earthquake was happening in Tokyo."
    The U.S. Geological Survey earlier verified a magnitude of
7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east
of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to
8.9.
    Japan's northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has
suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake
struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area
killed more than 3,000 people.
    Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's mostismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20
percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
(Writing by John Chalmers and Miral Fahmy; Tokyo bureau and Asia
Desk, Editing by Dean Yates; Singapore +65 6870 3815)

MACTV News: A powerful earthquake has struck the New Zealand city of Christchurch, Posted by Meosha Eaton

New Zealand Earthquake Video Footage, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Latest Earthquakes in the World, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Latest Earthquakes in the World - Past 7 days

Worldwide earthquakes with M4.5+ located by USGS and Contributing Agencies.
(Earthquakes with M2.5+ within the United States and adjacent areas.)

Instructions

• Hold your mouse over an earthquake to see its magnitude.
• Click on an earthquake for more information.
• Click on a location to go to a region map.
• Did You Feel It? - Report an earthquake

New Zealand earthquake: Authorities scramble after temblor leaves at least 65 dead, Posted by Meosha Eaton

Wellington, New Zealand
The mayor of New Zealand's second-largest city, Christchurch, has declared a state of emergency in the aftermath of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake that rocked the "garden city" shortly before 1 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

Prime Minister John Key, who was raised in Christchurch, said that at least 65 people are known to have died in what "may well be New Zealand's darkest day."

The New Zealand earthquake is already the deadliest to strike the country in the past 80 years and the death toll is expected to rise. It's the second major earthquake to hit Christchurch in five months, the first causing an estimated $3 billion in damages from multiple aftershock, but no deaths. This time, rescue crews are mobilizing from around the country to assist in what will be a massive rescue and rebuilding effort. For now, though, authorities in the country's capital, Wellington, are scrambling just to get information with the phone lines down and airports closed.

"There are people fighting for their lives at the moment, but there are also people fighting for them," Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told reporters as the first of more than 20 aftershocks to be recorded on the day began to be felt. "We're preparing ourselves for what I think will be a really sad, bleak day for our city but be reassured everybody is doing what they can."

Mr. Parker has asked some 350 military personnel to help in the evacuation of the city's downtown area.