By DPA,
Tokyo : The official toll of those dead or missing from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami disaster topped 10,000 Tuesday, as the country was rocked by a 6.0 magnitude aftershock.Radiation levels rose in Tokyo, and some flights were rerouted away from the capital to the south of the country to avoid the radiation cloud from the crippled Fukushima 1 nuclear plant.
The eyes of the world have been focussed on the plant, which has seen three blasts and a fire across its four reactors, sparking fears of an uncontrollable disaster and prompting governments around the world to reasses their own nuclear programmes.
The Japanese government said the fire had been extinguished and that radiation levels there had dropped slightly. But the Kyodo news agency cited plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) as saying it had become impossible to refill the pool for storing spent nuclear fuel.
Four days after the initial 9.0 magnitude quake and subsequent tsunami hit north eastern Japan, a few miracle survivors were still being pulled from the rubble.
A 70-year-old woman was found lying on the first floor of her house in Otsuchi, in the prefecture of Iwate, which had been hit by the tsunami, Kyodo reported.
National broadcaster NHK also reported that a young man had been rescued from a collapsed building in Ishinomaki City, in the prefecture of Miyagi, some 330 km northeast of the capitalTokyo.
Reports say around 25,000 people have been rescued so far. However, hope was fading of finding any substantial numbers still alive. Rescuers normally give up hope of finding anyone alive 72 hours after a disaster strikes.
Meanwhile, stock markets around the world suffered another day of sharp drops, as the possible knock-on affects on the global economy became more apparent.
US stocks plummeted more than two percent within less than an hour of opening Tuesday as Japan’s earthquake and threat of a nuclear meltdown threatened to push financial markets around the world into a tailspin.
The National Police Agency Tuesday put the official toll so far at 3,373 confirmed dead across 12 prefectures, while 7,558 remained missing.
Those figures alone would make it the worst natural disaster to hit Japan since the 1923 earthquake. However, the toll is expected to rise further, possibly into tens of thousands, as rescue teams get better access to areas flattened by the quake, with much road and rail infrastructure badly damaged.
Officials said hospitals were having trouble coping due to a shortage in morgue space and coffins, along with the inability to produce dry ice to store bodies amid continuing power outages.
Meanwhile a 6.0-magnitude earthquake stuck central Japan Tuesday night, the Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of casualties, and the agency did not issue a tsunami warning.
The epicentre of the 10:31 pm (1331 GMT) quake was in the eastern part of Shizuoka prefecture.
A total of 102 countries have now offered aid and assistance to Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, as it struggles to come to terms with the disaster.
A 25-strong Russian search-and-rescue team arrived in the Fukushima prefecture, backing up a team of 54 who arrived Monday. Moscow intends sending a total of 180 rescuers.
In the US, stocks plummeted more than two percent within an hour of opening, with the threat of a nuclear meltdown on top of the earthquake damage pushing financial markets into a tailspin.
Several planned sporting events, such as the motorcycle Grand Prix next month, have been postponed.
Many foreign nationals are still unaccounted for, including 50 Peruvians.
Neighbouring China has organised the evacuation of hundreds of its citizens. The first buses would ferry people Wednesday from cities in Japan’s Fukushima, Miyagi and Ibaraki prefectures to airports in Tokyo and the western city of Niigata, the Chinese embassy in Japan said on its website.
The Chinese Red Cross Society said it donated six million yuan ($900,000) in emergency aid to Japan.
China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection on Tuesday ordered cities along the country’s east coast to increase monitoring of radiation levels in the air and sea following reports of possible leakage from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant.
German airliner Lufthansa halted flights to Tokyo over fears of an imminent meltdown of the Fukushima reactor. Instead, it will divert flights to cities further south in Japan, like Osaka and Nagoya.
Bangladesh said it was moving its embassy out of Tokyo over fears of a meltdown at the reactor. Swedish carmaker Volvo told its 9,500 employees in Japan to stay at home, whilst it halted operations at three plants.
In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced the government was temporarily mothballing seven of Germany’s oldest reactors for safety checks.