As the struggle continues at Japan’s malfunctioning nuclear plants, this news item from Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun looks at the challenges being faced by Japanese and international rescuers as they scramble to save as many lives as possible in the aftermath of last week’s incredible tsunami.
The article from Japan’s Mainichi Shimbum says in part:
In the earthquake-affected areas of northeastern Japan, many communities remain cut off from the outside world, with no access to transportation or communications. … The fact is, despite the strenuous search and rescue missions carried out by the Self Defense Force and the Fire Defense and Disaster Management Agency, the true extent of the damage remains unclear. Yesterday, the Miyagi Prefecture Disaster Countermeasures Office launched air and ground search missions, but finding and rescuing people trapped in isolated villages scattered over such a wide area has proven extremely difficult.
When people are unable to send any form of distress signal, such as the elderly, it is exceedingly hard to find them. Koji Otsuka, a senior consultant at the Japanese Institute of Technology on Fishing Ports, Grounds and Communities, who researches the risk of isolation faced by fishing villages, suggests that, “it may be that elderly residents of small villages who have sought refuge in community centers may not have been found yet.”
A senior SDF official commented that, ‘these isolated districts are spread out over a large area. Helicopters can only fly for several hours – and it takes 10-20 minutes to haul each survivor onto a helicopter, so we’re working at a frustratingly slow pace.’ Priority has been given to hospital patients and residents of care homes, so in some cases survivors are being told to wait.
The Defense Ministry has requested the support of the U.S. military. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan is anchored off the coast of Sendai City. Carrier-born aircraft, helicopters and the helicopter of SDF supply ship Tokiwa are transporting 30,000 meals’ worth of emergency food supplies to Kesennuma City in Miyagi Prefecture and other affected areas.
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