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VOA News
March 11, 2011
Japan has declared emergencies at two nuclear plants whose power systems were knocked out by a massive earthquake, which also sent a tsunami into the Pacific coast of Honshu island, killing as many 1,000 people.
Authorities say two plants operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company in the city of Fukushima failed after the 8.9 magnitude quake struck waters east of Honshu early Friday afternoon. The cooling systems of several reactors failed, causing pressure to rise within the facilities.
Authorities said they may release small amounts of radioactive steam from the plants to ease the pressure build-up.
Japanese officials say radiation levels inside parts of Fukushima's Daiichi plant rose to 1,000 times above normal. They ordered 45,000 people living within a 10-kilometer radius to evacuate.
Japan's nuclear plants are designed to shut down following earthquakes, but require a power supply for systems that cool the reactors to keep their pressure stable.
The Japanese government also deployed troops and helicopters to rescue people stranded in coastal communities hit by waves up to 10 meters high that swept away vehicles and buildings and flooded vast areas.
Damaged highways were hampering rescuers' efforts to reach the worst-affected areas, where residents called out for help from rooftops of submerged buildings.
Japanese authorities said 200 to 300 bodies have been found in Sendai, the city closest to the quake, which was the most powerful on record to hit Japan and the world's fifth largest in more than a century. Japan's National Police Agency said about 700 people were missing and almost 1,000 people have been injured.
Northeast of Sendai, fires raged through the night in Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people. A large fire also erupted at an oil refinery in Ichihara, near Tokyo.
The quake halted all train services between Tokyo and neighboring towns, leaving thousands of people stranded in the capital, unable to get home. Several airports were closed, including Tokyo's Narita.
The tsunami flooded beaches in Hawaii and damaged harbors in the U. S. West Coast state of California, while prompting evacuation alerts in several Latin American nations, including Chile. The U.S. Coast Guard was searching for a man swept out to sea off the coast of northern California.
U.S. President Barack Obama said he called Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and pledged U.S. assistance for what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster in Japan, a close U.S. ally.
VOA News
March 11, 2011
Japan has declared emergencies at two nuclear plants whose power systems were knocked out by a massive earthquake, which also sent a tsunami into the Pacific coast of Honshu island, killing as many 1,000 people.
Authorities say two plants operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company in the city of Fukushima failed after the 8.9 magnitude quake struck waters east of Honshu early Friday afternoon. The cooling systems of several reactors failed, causing pressure to rise within the facilities.
Authorities said they may release small amounts of radioactive steam from the plants to ease the pressure build-up.
Japanese officials say radiation levels inside parts of Fukushima's Daiichi plant rose to 1,000 times above normal. They ordered 45,000 people living within a 10-kilometer radius to evacuate.
Japan's nuclear plants are designed to shut down following earthquakes, but require a power supply for systems that cool the reactors to keep their pressure stable.
The Japanese government also deployed troops and helicopters to rescue people stranded in coastal communities hit by waves up to 10 meters high that swept away vehicles and buildings and flooded vast areas.
Damaged highways were hampering rescuers' efforts to reach the worst-affected areas, where residents called out for help from rooftops of submerged buildings.
Japanese authorities said 200 to 300 bodies have been found in Sendai, the city closest to the quake, which was the most powerful on record to hit Japan and the world's fifth largest in more than a century. Japan's National Police Agency said about 700 people were missing and almost 1,000 people have been injured.
Northeast of Sendai, fires raged through the night in Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people. A large fire also erupted at an oil refinery in Ichihara, near Tokyo.
The quake halted all train services between Tokyo and neighboring towns, leaving thousands of people stranded in the capital, unable to get home. Several airports were closed, including Tokyo's Narita.
The tsunami flooded beaches in Hawaii and damaged harbors in the U. S. West Coast state of California, while prompting evacuation alerts in several Latin American nations, including Chile. The U.S. Coast Guard was searching for a man swept out to sea off the coast of northern California.
U.S. President Barack Obama said he called Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and pledged U.S. assistance for what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster in Japan, a close U.S. ally.
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