By IANS/RIA Novosti,
Tokyo : Japanese emperor Akihito and empress Michiko will be visiting Fukushima, which was devastated by an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, the NHK channel reported Wednesday.
The imperial couple, who earlier visited the tsunami-devastated Miyagi and Ivate prefectures, left Tokyo on a military plane.
They plan to visit Fukushima and meet the prefecture’s governor and local authorities.
The magnitude-9 quake and tsunami that struck Japan March 11 has claimed 14,919 lives, while 9,893 people are still unaccounted for.
The disaster triggered a number of explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, causing the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986.
The government said the damage from the disaster could total $310 billion.