Post date: Mar 21, 2011 9:1:21 PM
People flee the 90 km exclusion zone as smoke rises from Fukushima nuclear complex, none know if they will ever return.
YONEZAWA CITY, YAMAGATA PREFECTURE, JAPAN (MARCH, 21 2011) REUTERS - Japan remains on high alert as some workers were evacuated from the Fukushima nuclear complex after grey smoke rose from the site after it was thought that pressure was building up at the No. 3 reactor. Engineers managed to rig power cables to all six reactors at the Fukushima complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, and started a water pump at one of them to reverse the overheating that has triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.
As Japan struggles to prevent a catastrophic meltdown at the nuclear complex, damaged by a devastating earthquake and a tsunami last week, more residents continue to flee the area, seeking radiation checks at clinic's and shelter at evacuation centre's established outside the 50-mile exclusion zone. But before they and their families are granted space on the gymnasium floor, they have to the daunting and nerve racking task of passing a radiation test. Every new arrival is scanned for exposure to radiation with a Geiger counter, the small device scans the head and upper body for any signs of radiation. 0.2 is considered the normal body level, however if it increases above 30, it would sound a warning, alerting the official that the person screened was possible contaminated.At Yonezawa city, situated 98 km north-east of Fukushima nuclear plant, shaken and often traumatised families arrive at the welfare centre to check whether they have been contaminated with radiation. Once they have registered they are taken into a small room where they are asked to stand while there exposed skin is tested for radiation.
"People are desperate to evacuate the site as soon as possible. So after the screening and finding out that there is no contamination, they are all relieved," says Dr Keiko Yamada, head of the welfare centre.
Since the devastating earthquake and tsunami ten days ago, 2, 536 evacuee's from the exclusion zone had visited the Yonezawa clinic for radiation screening.
Japan has raised the severity rating of the nuclear crisis to level 5 from 4 on the seven-level INES international scale, putting it on a par with the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, although some experts say it is more serious.
Overshadowing news from the facility, however, was mounting concern that radioactive particles already released into the atmosphere have contaminated food and water supplies. Japan's health ministry has urged some residents near the plant to stop drinking tap water after high levels of radioactive iodine were detected.
Cases of contaminated vegetables and milk have already stoked anxiety despite assurances from officials that the levels are not dangerous. The government has prohibited the sale of raw milk from Fukushima prefecture and spinach from a nearby area.
Most families arriving at the Yonezawa city welfare clinic live within the 90 km exclusion zone and afraid that if contaminated, they could effect their family and friends.
Dr Yamada is also concerned that if tested positive they may be discriminated against when returning to their communities or evacuee shelters.
"What we are mostly worried about is that the people who have been exposed to radiation will be discriminated against," he said.
Once families receive the all-clear from the clinic they can register their families at the evacuation centre next door. There they will join hundreds of other families on the cold gymnasium floors and receive medical treatment and food.
While workers try to repair the badly damaged reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant, many at the evacuation centre question whether they will ever return to their homes.
"Is my homeland going to be contaminated with radiation?. When will I go back home? Can I ever go back or not? I don't even know," says Kenji Sakurai who lives in the town of Minami Sakurai, only 30 km away from the nuclear plant.
The March 11, 9.0-mgnitude earthquake and tsunami left more than 21,000 people dead or missing and will cost an already beleaguered economy some $250 billion.