By
Lucy Birmingham / Tokyo
Monday, Mar. 28, 2011
Damir Sagolj / ReutersThe
daughter of an earthquake-and-tsunami victim cries over her mother's
coffin during a mass funeral procession at a field outside Kesennuma
town, Miyagi prefecture, on March 27, 2011
Related
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More than two weeks after the unprecedented triple disaster of monster
quake, killer tsunami and nuclear crisis struck Japan, the enormity of the
catastrophe is becoming clearer. Some 27,000 people are confirmed dead or
missing, with more than 2,000 bodies recovered from the sea. About 240,000
are homeless, sheltered in about 1,900 evacuation centers spread mainly
across the devastated northeast but also in cities like Tokyo. While aid
is reaching ever more of those affected, it is insufficient and too
slow. Most of the displaced do not have homes or jobs to return to. The
government estimates the cost at $300 billion, which would make it the most
expensive natural disaster on record.
Yet Japan is unable to focus on recovery. On Monday morning, March 28, Miyagi
prefecture, the worst hit, was shaken by a 6.5-magnitude offshore earthquake
that caused a small tsunami (about 0.5 m high). Thankfully, no
injuries or damage were reported. More important, the nation and places beyond
remain under threat from the stricken reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear power plant. Yukiya Amano, director-general of the Geneva-based
International Atomic Energy Agency, told the New York
Times the
emergency could go on for weeks and possibly even months: "This is a very
serious accident by all standards, and it is not over yet." (See exclusive photos of the devastation in Japan.)
The latest danger is a high level of radioactivity in pools of water in the
complex. As of Sunday, March 27, authorities were unable to pinpoint where the
radioactive water was coming from and so were unable to stop it.
Compounding the problem: an increase in radiation in the air, which has
forced the on-and-off evacuation of workers trying to keep the facility from
overheating. Concern is mounting that at least one containment
vessel for fuel rods may have been breached.
At a press conference Sunday, a spokesman for the Tokyo Electric Power
Company (TEPCO), the utility that runs Fukushima Daiichi, and
government officials said water from the No. 2 reactor turbine building
had levels of radiation 10 million times higher than normal. Tests on
the
surface of a pool of water showed more than 1,000 millisieverts (mSv)
per
hour, four times the safety level. (A single dose of 1,000 mSv causes
radiation-sickness symptoms such as nausea and vomiting; a single dose
of 5,000 mSv
would kill about half of those receiving it within a month.) Workers
were
evacuated from the reactor building. Later in the day, TEPCO officials
admitted that the number was a miscalculation and that the radiation
level was actually 100,000 times above normal — still high, but better
than previous results. (See how Japan became a leader in disaster preparation.)
Shintaro Matsumoto, an official at Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety
Agency, said this was the highest figure measured in the six-reactor unit
since it lost vital cooling functions following the March 11 earthquake and
tsunami. Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the agency, said, "There is a
strong possibility that the water is from the reactor core." Japanese
authorities have extended the evacuation zone around the crippled plant from
a 20-km to a 30-km radius.
The problems at the plant are having a wider impact. Last week, unsafe
radiation levels were found in tap water as far away as Tokyo, 220 km
south of the Fukushima plants, prompting a one-day ban on consumption by
infants and a rush on bottled water. Fears about food safety are
growing. Milk and leafy vegetables from the Fukushima region have been
banned both nationally and abroad. Shops across Japan are displaying
signs indicating that their items are not from the northeast. The U.S.
last week became the first country to ban the import of milk and some
vegetables from the
contaminated areas. On Friday, South Korea and Taiwan joined the growing
list, which also includes Singapore and Australia.
Food producers in the region have been hit hard by the damage to
infrastructure. Ken Sasaki had to cull 30,000 egg-laying chickens at his
farm in Hachinohe because of a feed shortage — his flock required more than 30
tons a day. "Almost all our feed is imported," says Sasaki. "Most of it is
transported here by ship, but our ports were badly damaged." The resulting
egg shortage has driven up prices 40% in Tokyo. (See pictures of Japan's six days of chaos.)
Automakers such as Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi are also feeling an
economic pinch, as parts produced in the northeast are in short supply.
Japan-based Renesas Electronics, the world's largest maker of
microcontrollers — chips used to control electronic operations in cars — is down
70% in output. Five of the company's plants are in the affected areas. "At
this point, we don't know when we can go back to normal production," says
Renesas spokeswoman Makie Uehara.
The government estimates the impact of interrupted factory output of
autos,
electronics, chemicals and other high-volume industries to be $3
billion. But
the real cost may be much higher if discretionary spending on such
things as entertainment, health, sports, apparel, beauty and travel is
taken into account.
A Japanese goal for 2011 was to attract 11 million foreign tourists,
especially a
growing number from China. But the number of incoming travelers passing
through Tokyo's Narita airport plummeted 60% from March 11 to March 22.
"One of the big problems has been the foreign-government warnings
against
travel to Tokyo and the northern areas," says Tyler Palma of Inside
Japan, a
U.K.-based tour company. "This automatically invalidates travel
insurance."
Without travel insurance, tour companies cannot legally operate. "We've
started bringing a few tours through Osaka airport instead, with the
focus
on Kyoto and western Japan."
Kyoto's geisha quarters at this time of year are usually readying for the
cherry-blossom-season bustle of customers. But teahouse owner Harumi
laments, "Just about all our April reservations have been canceled. I don't
think I've ever seen it this bad before." Customers tell her they would
rather spend money on relief efforts than a vacation, so she has decided to
sponsor a charity event with the help of other geisha and a local tour
guide. (See "After Disaster: What Defines a Country's Resilience?")
On Sunday, though, it was hard to fathom the crises Japan faces amid
the sea of young shoppers in the megapopular fashion retail store Forever
21, in Tokyo's Shibuya district. "Business is back to prequake levels,"
said the floor manager, busy balancing hangers and discount price tags. Will
it last? His smiling face turned serious as he replied, "I'm really hoping."
See TIME's complete coverage of the crises in Japan.
See how to help earthquake and tsunami victims.
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