Anxiety in Japan grows as rescue workers find more bodies Skip to main content

Anxiety in Japan grows as rescue workers find more bodies

Sendai, Japan (CNN) -- In a nation already besieged with grief over mounting casualties, fears of possible radiation and the threat of more earthquakes, the nightmare grew for Japanese residents Monday as thousands of bodies reportedly surfaced and a government official confirmed another explosion at a nuclear reactor building.



The official death toll reached 1,833 on Monday. But the number did not take into account the 2,000 bodies that Japan's Kyodo News said had been found in the hard-hit Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's northeast coast.

If confirmed, the discovery would be the largest yet of victims from the 8.9-magnitude quake and devastating tsunami that hit Japan four days ago.

At least 2,369 people were missing on Monday, the National Police Agency said, and the number of dead is expected to go up as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas.

Meanwhile, a second explosion in two days occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, officials said. The blast took place in the facility's No. 3 reactor building on Monday morning and injured 11. Hours later, the plant's No. 2 reactor lost its cooling capabilities.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters he believes the hydrogen explosion at reactor No. 3 caused the cooling system of reactor No. 2 to stop working. The explosion did not damage the reactor or result in significant radiation leakage, he said.

Even so, public concern over the possibility persisted Monday.

"I'm due to give birth soon," said a woman who had to evacuate from the area. "I want to know what's going on at the nuclear plant. I'm scared."

About 240 kilometers (150 miles) south in the capital Tokyo, residents worried about the threat of more aftershocks as they started their work week Monday.

"It didn't really feel safe going to an empty office," said Tokyo resident Mia Moore, citing the ongoing tremors that continue to rattle the city every few hours. "People want to stay with their families at this time to recover, really. It's quite exhausting feeling so nervous all the time. I think people want to get back to normality as soon as they can."

But normalcy seems a distant memory in Miyagi Prefecture, where rescue workers sifted through mountains of debris and hope for survivors appeared to dim.

The town of Minami Sanriku -- about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Pacific Ocean -- morphed into a massive pile of wood that used to house some 20,000 residents. An eerie silence prevailed as emergency rescue officials said they didn't think anyone was still alive under the rubble. About half of Minami Sanriku's population was unaccounted for.

In the Sendai area, where buildings disintegrated into rushing water within seconds during the tsunami, a bizarre mix of sport-utility vehicles, cabinets, sofas, a taxi cab and a doll were heaped in a pile outside the remnants of a house. A white car sat precariously at the top of a sloped house.


In the 65 years after the end of World War II, 
this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan
--Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan

Solemn residents waited in lines that stretched blocks for food, water and gas. Despite the devastation surrounding them, the crowds appeared calm and orderly.

Some areas of Ishinomaki city remained inaccessible by ground on Monday. Japanese troops had gone door-to-door in hopes of finding survivors -- but found mostly the bodies of elderly residents.

So far, about 15,000 people have been rescued altogether, the Kyodo reported Monday, citing Prime Minister Nato Kan.

Among them was Hiromitsu Shinkawa, a 60-year-old man from Minami Soma who was swept away with his house, the Kyodo news agency said.

A Japanese destroyer found him Sunday floating some 15 kilometers (9 miles) off Fukushima Prefecture, waving a self-made red flag while standing on a piece of his house's roof, according to Kyodo.

Shinkawa was safe. But his wife had swept away, he said.

On Sunday, the country's prime minister called on people to pull together and face sacrifices.

"In the 65 years after the end of World War II, this is the toughest and the most difficult crisis for Japan," Kan told reporters.

With the imperiled Fukushima plant offline, Tokyo Electric Power said it was expecting a shortfall of around 25 percent capacity, which necessitated the blackouts.

Rolling blackouts began in eight prefectures Monday evening, with electricity turned off for three to six hours some parts. Downtown Tokyo was not included. Up to 45 million people will be affected in the rolling outages, which will last until April 8.



The earthquake and tsunami will rank among the costliest natural disaster on record, experts predict.

Japan's central bank announced plans Monday to inject 15 trillion yen ($186 billion) into the economy to reassure global investors in the stability of Japanese financial markets and banks.

Still, Japanese markets dropped sharply on Monday, the first trading day since the disaster. By mid-day local time, the benchmark Nikkei 225 was down more than 6.4%.

The drop was the largest single day fall since September 2008 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis.

A massive emergency response operation is underway in northern Japan, with world governments and international aid groups coming together to bring relief to the beleaguered island nation. Sixty-nine governments have offered to help with search and rescue, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Friday's quake is the strongest in recorded history to hit Japan, according to USGS records that date to 1900. The world's largest recorded quake took place in Chile on May 22, 1960, with a magnitude of 9.5, the agency said.

Michelle Roberts, a resident of central Tokyo, said Monday her family is trying to decide whether to leave the country.

"We're not afraid of another earthquake, but of the nuclear reactors," she said, noting concern for her premature infant son. "I am also at risk because of the medications I have to take. I don't know if I need to be worried or not."

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/14/japan.disaster/index.html

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