Japan Searches for Survivors; Food, Water Supplies Low
There is not much left on the shelves in northern Japan, four days after an earthquake and horrific tsunami wiped out swathes of northeast Japan, killing thousands, crippling power plants, wiping out roads, and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.
Television pictures on Tuesday from hard-hit Sendai show people lined up for water, canned food, and some stores rationing food sales to 10 items per person.
In Koriyama, in the Fukushima area where the crippled nuclear power plant is leaking radiation, people have fled the region. Others are living in damaged homes or trying to repair their houses. Most businesses have closed. One hardware store had a sign out warning they were out of tarp and water containers.
Supplies of gasoline are also running low and expressways have been closed off to all vehicles except for emergency traffic.
Japan's NHK television on Tuesday quoted government officials as saying 3,091 are confirmed dead, but thousands more are missing.
Rescue operation
Rescue crews still were struggling through debris-blocked roads to get to hundreds of thousands of people whose towns and villages were leveled by Friday's magnitude-9 earthquake and a subsequent tsunami.
Millions more are in need of of food, water and electricity, while relief efforts are complicated by the widespread destruction of infrastructure. Authorities say they are also desperately short of coffins and body bags for the earthquake victims, many of which are washing up on northeastern beaches.
The government says 15,000 people have already been rescued and 450,000 have been evacuated nationwide. Of the missing, many may have been washed out to sea by the 10-meter tsunami.
Aftershocks continue
Further south in the capital Tokyo, aftershocks are still shaking buildings every hour or so. Mayo Issobe, who lives in the suburbs, told VOA there had been a run on toilet paper, batteries and gasoline as people started to stock up against shortages.
But mostly she said people felt hopeless against the level of devastation, saying "there is a limit to what you can worry about and what you can do. Life goes on," she said.
fuente: http://www.voanews.com/
Television pictures on Tuesday from hard-hit Sendai show people lined up for water, canned food, and some stores rationing food sales to 10 items per person.
In Koriyama, in the Fukushima area where the crippled nuclear power plant is leaking radiation, people have fled the region. Others are living in damaged homes or trying to repair their houses. Most businesses have closed. One hardware store had a sign out warning they were out of tarp and water containers.
Supplies of gasoline are also running low and expressways have been closed off to all vehicles except for emergency traffic.
Japan's NHK television on Tuesday quoted government officials as saying 3,091 are confirmed dead, but thousands more are missing.
Rescue operation
Rescue crews still were struggling through debris-blocked roads to get to hundreds of thousands of people whose towns and villages were leveled by Friday's magnitude-9 earthquake and a subsequent tsunami.
Millions more are in need of of food, water and electricity, while relief efforts are complicated by the widespread destruction of infrastructure. Authorities say they are also desperately short of coffins and body bags for the earthquake victims, many of which are washing up on northeastern beaches.
The government says 15,000 people have already been rescued and 450,000 have been evacuated nationwide. Of the missing, many may have been washed out to sea by the 10-meter tsunami.
Aftershocks continue
Further south in the capital Tokyo, aftershocks are still shaking buildings every hour or so. Mayo Issobe, who lives in the suburbs, told VOA there had been a run on toilet paper, batteries and gasoline as people started to stock up against shortages.
But mostly she said people felt hopeless against the level of devastation, saying "there is a limit to what you can worry about and what you can do. Life goes on," she said.
fuente: http://www.voanews.com/
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