Al-Hayat

Japan was running against the clock Tuesday to avert a serious nuclear crisis as aid workers bend their search for survivors of the earthquake and tsunami last week.

The Central Asian economic staggered as the death toll climbed to 3,373, and the stock market fell for a second consecutive day – a drop of 10 percent currently.

The traumatized people huddled in overcrowded shelters, distraught over lost loved ones and concerned parents who have disappeared in the towns and villages swamped by the tsunami waves generated by the earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the east coast of Honshu, on Friday .

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Can disaster called the worst crisis the country since the Second World War.

“The scope of this event has taken everyone by surprise,” said Patrick Fuller, a spokesman for the Red Cross. “It’s scarce resources to the fullest.”

Fears grip exposure to radioactivity of the country as workers approached quake paralyzed cooling systems in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in northern Japan and is facing fires and explosions.

The latest incident is a fire at reactor No. 4 and went out and the explosion occurred in No. 2 reactor.

The high temperatures inside the building that houses the reactor number 4, the installation has caused the fuel rods sitting in the pool explode or catch fire, the factory owner said.

Reading the radiation peaks at the door of the building during the fire, but decreased after the fire was extinguished. The Cabinet Secretary said Yukio Edan amounts reimbursed at a level that does not harm human health. ”

David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University, said he thinks that “at present there is no real evidence that there are risks to the health of the population.”

For example, radiation levels in Tokyo were twice the normal level on Tuesday, but were too small to constitute a health threat, officials said.

But the Japanese authorities could not exclude that the spectrum of significant radiation hazards on the road.

For the first time since the quake crippled the cooling systems of reactors Daiichi Friday and explosions took place in two reactors Saturday and Monday, said radiation levels Edano at the plant had reached “levels that could affect human health. ”

Edan said Tuesday that he could not rule out the possibility of the collapse of troubled reactors. Even if the sea water was pumped into the reactor means to prevent injury, “not necessarily call the situation stable,” he said.

Factory owners are taking precautions to protect our people from Fukushima Prefecture, in which the reactors are to sit. The plants are about 138 miles (225 km) from Tokyo.

All were evacuated, but about 50 workers in the establishment and urged the people within 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) from the plant to stay indoors. The government has imposed an air exclusion zone over the 30-kilometer radius “because of the detected radiation after the explosions” no, the country’s transport ministry said.

Analysts also have their eyes on reactors # 5 and 6 of the plant, said Edan, where refrigeration is not working properly, if the temperature had dropped slightly on Tuesday.

U $ s U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington, pier-side in Yokosuka, near Yokohama, detected low levels of radioactivity at the plant in Fukushima. The Navy has issued precautions for staff and their families in two bases despite his assertion that “there was no danger to the public.”

Precautions “to limit outdoor activities and ensure external ventilation whenever possible.”

CMdR. Jeff Davis, spokesman for the U.S. Navy “the Seventh Fleet in Japan, said the release of radioactivity is to create” one of the most difficult humanitarian operations ever conducted. ”

He said that for the second time, American helicopter crews were exposed to high levels, albeit low, levels of radiation during flights near Japan nuclear reactor. He said that the Navy is moving forward three ships to a new location because of the “radiological hazards and navigation” destined for the east coast of Honshu.

For many across Japan, anxious to calm the nerves more and more difficult than the situation on the damaged plant seems increasingly bleak.

“I think the common sense point of view, I try to party hard-nosed perspective, because I do not think any large-scale disaster,” said Osaki resident Tyler Martin.

“Until now, the winds that blow from north-northeast, while many of radioactive leaks, Tokyo should not get much exposure,” says Robert F. Mendel, who lives in suburban Tokyo.

“Obviously, if the wind changes is another story, we were asked to wear long sleeves, a hat, a surgical mask to reduce the amount of exposure -.. These cover the much skin as possible ”

At least 6,746 people were still missing Tuesday, the national police said, and 1,987 were injured.

The public broadcaster NHK reported that 450,000 people were living in shelters, and many schools were turned into emergency shelters.

There have been hundreds of aftershocks since the quake on Friday.

6.0-earthquake was reported 85 miles (about 135 km) east of the main Japanese island of Honshu, but no tsunami warning has been issued, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Tuesday. This place was about 185 miles northeast of Tokyo.

Another 6.0-earthquake occurred early Tuesday morning off the north coast of Honshu, about 600 kilometers north of Tokyo.

Outside the region where aftershocks have occurred, 6.2-quake was notified Tuesday, 1972 miles west-southwest of Tokyo, the USGS said.

Across the country, emergency workers in Japan, foreign governments and international aid agencies continued Tuesday to see the piles of rubble and tangled displaced in search of survivors. Eighty-one countries and regions and six international organizations have offered their assistance, as the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For example, the USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group flew 29 missions on Tuesday and delivered 17 tons of supplies, including food, water and blankets. Another American ship, the USS Tortuga, with 300 Japanese ground Self-Defense Force personnel and 90 vehicles.

Area of ​​Sendai, the capital of Miyagi prefecture several tractor-trailers, cars on top was delivered. Personal effects – baby doll, an empty shoe, wedding photography, covered in mud – was in the pile where houses once stood.

In a shelter in the city, a man who fled the tsunami did not let go of her baby three weeks. “I must protect my children. I protect my children,” she said.

Another family wiped tears when someone who barely knew gave him food and water.

Japanese soldiers paddled through flooded streets in heavily Ishinomaki to save several people at an office building. The group huddled in a bay surrounded by water, were stranded for three days.

The cold weather has compounded the problems of disaster victims and rescuers. Rescuers reported that some victims were exposed to cold and water, sometimes for several days.

Conditions expected to deteriorate with temperatures expected to fall below zero, last Wednesday in parts of the area of ​​the earthquake, accompanied by snow, heavy rains and the threat of landslides.

Already in Sendai, fell from cold rain and snow on the decimated city Tuesday, and snow fell in parts of northern Japan.

Economic and power issues were also raised.

When the danger of plant location in Fukushima, Tokyo Electric Power said it expected deficit of about 25 per cent capacity, which required the blackout. Up to 45 million people affected by interruptions in rotation, which lasts until at least April 8.

Experts predict the earthquake and tsunami are among the most costly natural disaster in history.

Bank of Japan announced its intention to inject the Monday 15000000000000 yen (about $ 185 billion) to convince the economy to international investors and the stability of financial markets and banks in Japan.

Still, Japanese stocks closed Tuesday 10.55%, the third steepest in the history of the Nikkei fell.

He was on top of a 6.2% drop Monday, the first full trading day after the quake, which was the largest drop in a single day since September 2008 following the collapse of Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis .

Friday’s earthquake was the strongest ever to hit Japan, according to U.S. Geological Survey records that date to 1900. USGS revised the scale of the earthquake from 8.9 to 9.0 on Monday.