TOKYO —The loss of life and destruction caused by Friday’s catastrophic earthquake in Japan grew Saturday, with the combined number of people who have died or remain unaccounted for expected to exceed 1,800, while an explosion occurred at a nuclear power plant injuring four workers.
But the number of victims could increase as authorities struggle to grasp the extent of the devastation in the face of continuing aftershocks and the large areas affected.
The death toll exceeded 687 as of Saturday midnight, a police tally showed, while a further 200 to 300 unidentified bodies were transferred to Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. About 650 people were noted as missing following the 2:46 p.m. quake with a magnitude of 8.8, the strongest ever recorded in Japan.
On top of that figure, Miyagi prefectural officials said Saturday night that there has been no contact with about 10,000 people in Minamisanriku, more than half of the town’s population.
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said about 3,000 people have been rescued since the quake jolted the area. But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said, ‘‘It is believed that more than 1,000 people have lost their lives.’‘
The number of evacuees reached some 300,000 in five prefectures, including Iwate and Fukushima, the National Police Agency said. The figure included about 80,000 people living near the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, where one of the reactors partially melted, and the No. 2 plant, which lost its cooling functions.
The Defense Ministry is mobilizing 50,000 personnel for relief operations. The Ground Self-Defense Force dispatched a special unit to deal with accidents at the nuclear plants and to help the evacuation of nearby residents.
For rescue and other operations to relieve the suffering of quake-hit areas, all available SDF resources, including personnel, vehicles, aircraft and vessels, have been mobilized.
Some 190 aircraft and about 45 vessels have so far been dispatched or are preparing for deployment to quake- and tsunami-stricken areas mostly in the country’s northeastern region, according to the Defense Ministry.
Ground Self-Defense Force, Maritime Self-Defense Force, and Air Self-Defense Force helicopters continued airlifting people stranded in buildings or vessels at sea, including about 200 residents stranded within a 10-kilometer radius from the Fukushima No. 1 plant.
ASDF C-130 transport planes carried more than 100 antidisaster medical personnel to areas where the disaster struck, according to the ministry.
GSDF personnel trained to deal with nuclear, chemical and biological terrorism and their vehicles arrived at a location near the Fukushima No. 1 power plant and are monitoring radioactive substances around the plant.
The SDF is making arrangements with the U.S. military to transport Ground Self-Defense Force troops and vehicles by U.S. vessels in what would be the largest-ever domestic antidisaster operation involving U.S. forces, the ministry said, adding that it could occur on Monday or later.
The SDF is also making arrangements for the MSDF and the U.S. 7th Fleet to conduct joint search and rescue operations off the Pacific coast in northeastern Japan.
SDF liaison officers have been sent to the offices of Hokkaido, Miyagi, Iwate, Akita, Aomori, Fukushima and Yamagata prefectures to coordinate with local officials in providing relief efforts.
Fires in residential areas broke out, with Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture experiencing three large-scale fires including one stretching for up to 1 kilometer.
The number of destroyed buildings reached some 3,400, according to the fire agency. The welfare ministry said 181 welfare facilities, including nursing homes, have been damaged.
In Iwate Prefecture, most areas of the coastal city of Rikuzentakata were submerged and tsunami reached as high as the third floor of the city hall. The coastal area of Miyako and almost all of the town of Yamada, both in Iwate, were also submerged.
A municipal official of the town of Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture said, ‘‘More than 90 percent of the houses in three coastal communities have been washed away by tsunami. Looking from the fourth floor of the town hall, I see no houses standing.’‘
Around 5.57 million households had lost power, while more than 1 million households in 18 prefectures had had their water supply cut off.
Meanwhile, strong quakes, one with a magnitude of 6.7 at 3:59 a.m., rocked an inland area on the Sea of Japan coast northwest of Tokyo in the morning, hitting Nagano and Niigata prefectures.
Several aftershocks from the devastating earthquake occurred Saturday night, rocking wide areas of the Tohoku and Kanto regions.
East Japan Railway Co said it will continue the suspension of bullet train services on the Tohoku, Yamagata and Akita Shinkansen lines, while resuming train operations in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Nine expressways were closed as of Saturday, while 676 domestic flights were canceled.
The quake has created problems for the manufacturing sector, with Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co planning to suspend production at all their domestic plants on Monday due to difficulties in procuring auto parts.
Tokyo police said more than 120,000 people in the capital were unable to return home Friday evening due to the suspension of train operations and because of traffic jams.
‘‘It is the first time in postwar Japan that developed areas such as Sendai Airport have been hit by tsunami,’’ said Norio Maki, associate professor at Kyoto University’s Disaster Prevention Research Institute. ‘‘What is distinctive about this earthquake is that it caused a wide variety of damage in many areas simultaneously—something that modern Japan has never faced.’‘
In the Tokyo metropolitan area, miles away from the directly stricken regions, people experienced wild vertical tremors which gradually grew to terrific, persistent sways. Skyscrapers were making noises as they moved and some of buildings caught fire.
The Meteorological Agency reported the quake caused a 400-meter long, 200-meter wide fault.
The Earthquake Information Center of the University of Tokyo said the energy of the latest quake was 180 times stronger than the 1995 Kobe earthquake which killed nearly 6,500 people and injured 44,000 others.
Keiichi Tadokoro, an associate professor at Nagoya University, said the power of the quake was close to that of the quake which devastated Chile in February last year.
Miyagi and Iwate prefectures have long been known as quake-prone regions but the scale of damage this time has far exceeded the expectations of municipalities, researchers agree.
Kyoto University’s Maki said the disaster could affect Japan as a whole, including its economy and people’s lives. ‘‘Damage has occurred over an unprecedented area. The government has to make all-out efforts and coordination in supporting the people.’’
News Source ( www.japantoday.com)
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