Japanese death toll set to soar

Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War II with thousands missing, towns destroyed and many areas unreachable. Last Modified: 13 Mar 2011 18:24 GMT

Some 10,000 people are unaccounted for in the town of Minami Sanriku, which has been buried under mud [Al Jazeera] Rescuers are recovering bodies and searching for survivors along Japan's northeastern coastline, as millions of survivors are left without drinking water, electricity and proper food in the wake of a devastating earthquake and tsunami. The death toll from Friday's twin disasters will probably exceed 10,000 in Miyagi prefecture alone, Naoto Takeuchi, the local police chief, said on Sunday as hundreds of bodies were recovered. Naoto Kan, Japan's prime minister, said the crisis was the worst disaster the country had faced since the second world war. LIVE BLOG But in one astonishing rescue, a military helicopter on Sunday picked up a 60-year-old man floating off the coast of Fukushima on the roof of his house after being swept 15km out to sea by the tsunami, the defence ministry said. "I ran away after learning that the tsunami was coming," Hiromitsu Shinkawa told rescuers according to Jiji Press. "But I turned back to pick up something at home, when I was washed away. I was rescued while I was hanging to the roof of my house." Dislodged shipping containers piled up along the coastline and swathes of mangled wreckage consumed what used to be rice fields. An elderly woman wrapped in a blanket tearfully recalled how she and her husband evacuated from Kesennuma town, north of Miyagi prefecture, where the massive tsunami swept through a fishing port. "I was trying to escape with my husband, but water forced us to run up to the second story of a house of people we don't even know at all," she told NHK television. "Water still came up to the second floor, and before our eyes, the house's owner and his daughter were flushed away. We couldn't do anything. Nothing." Water shortages The quake, measured to magnitude 9.0 by the Japanese Meteorological Agency, was the strongest quake ever recorded in the country. It has been followed by more than 150 powerful aftershocks. At least 1.4 million households have gone without water since the quake struck and millions of households are without electricity. Temperatures were to dip near freezing overnight. Large areas of the countryside remained surrounded by water and unreachable. Many fuel stations were closed and people were running out of petrol for their vehicles. Public broadcaster NHK said around 310,000 people have been evacuated to emergency shelters, many of them without power. In Iwaki town, residents were leaving due to concerns over dwindling food and fuel supplies. The town had no electricity and all stores were closed. As Sendai city endured a pitch-black night amid a power blackout, Masayoshi Yamamoto, the Sendai Teishin Hospital spokesman, told the AFP news agency the building was able to keep its lights on using its own power generators, drawing in survivors. Around 50 people arrived looking to shelter from the cold night air in the lobby of the downtown Sendai city hospital, he said. "Many of them are from outside Miyagi prefecture, who had visited some patients here or came in search of essential medicines," he said. But with water supplies cut, Yamamoto said hospital officials were worried about how long its tank-based supply would last. The hospital may also run out of food for its patients by Monday. "We have asked other hospitals to provide food for us, but transportation itself seems difficult," he said. In Sendai, 24-year-old Ayumi Osuga dug through the destroyed remnants of her home. She had been playing origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into figures, with her three children when the quake stuck. She recalled her husband's shouted warning from outside: "Get out of there now!" She gathered her children and fled in her car to higher ground with her husband. They spent the night huddled in a hilltop home belonging to her husband's family about 20km away. "My family, my children. We are lucky to be alive,'' she told the Associated Press. "I have come to realise what is important in life".

Japan seeks limited foreign aid

The UN says Japan has requested for limited help in its rescue efforts after the devastating quake and tsunami. Last Modified: 12 Mar 2011 04:31 GMT Print Article

More than 68 search and rescue teams from 45 countries have offered aid to Japan [Reuters] Japan has requested a limited number of foreign search and rescue teams to help with the aftermath of its major earthquake and tsunami, the United Nations said. More than 68 search and rescue teams from 45 countries have offered aid to Japan, which was hit by the earthquake and tsunami on Friday in the northeast, the UN said. "Japan has requested international search and rescue teams, but only a handful," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said in Geneva. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General, told reporters in New York, "the world is shocked and saddened by the images coming out of Japan this morning. "We will do anything and everything we can at this very difficult time." At least four teams had been requested - from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States, Byrs said. Australia, South Korea and Singapore will all send search and rescue teams and sniffer dogs to help search for trapped survivors, their governments said Saturday. Obama offers help Barack Obama, the US president, spoke to Naoto Kan, the Japanese prime minister, to offer help "in any way possible", the Japanese Jiji agency reported. Obama spoke to the Japanese prime minister and offered to help "in any way possible" [AFP] "The United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial ... The friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakeable, and only strengthens our resolve to stand with the people of Japan as they overcome this tragedy," Obama said in a statement. The US said it was sending close to 150 rescue workers and the military effort included at least six Navy ships, Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Commander Leslie Hullryde said. Earlier, the US Air Force flew coolant to the Fukushima nuclear plant to help deal with a potentially dangerous breakdown of the cooling system, Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, said. Global solidarity Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, and Herman Van Rompuy, European Council president, also voiced solidarity. The European Union said Japan had requested search and rescue teams and search dogs. "Europe's civil protection system has been fully mobilised to help Japan overcome this immense tragedy," said Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian aid and Crisis Response. The Russian emergency services agency ERMACOM offered 40 people with three sniffer dogs, while Singapore had civil defence forces on standby and Poland offered firefighters. China and Switzerland also offered rescue teams, while Britain, France and others said they were ready to offer whatever help was required.

World sends relief teams to Japan

Natural disaster prompts offers of search and rescue help from 50 nations, with UN helping to co-ordinate response. Last Modified: 12 Mar 2011 17:01 GMT

Switzerland is sending a team of about 25 rescue and medical experts accompanied by nine sniffer dogs [Reuters] The international community has started to send disaster relief teams to help Japan in the wake of a massive earthquake and tsunami, with the UN sending a group to help co-ordinate work. The team of disaster relief officials from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) includes several Japanese speakers and an environmental expert. "We are in the process of deploying nine experts who are among the most experienced we have for dealing with catastrophes," Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the UNOCHA, said on Saturday. "They will help evaluate needs and co-ordinate assistance with Japanese authorities." The 8.9-magnitude earthquake, the strongest recorded in Japan, sent a 10-metre high tsunami ripping through towns and cities across the northeast coast on Friday. Japanese media estimate that at least 1,300 people were killed. Japan's army has deployed about 50,000 troops for search and rescue operations. 'Simply heartbreaking' The unfolding natural disaster has so far prompted offers of search and rescue help from 50 countries. The UN announced late on Friday that four foreign search and rescue teams from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the US were on their way after Japan requested help. LIVE BLOG China said rescuers were ready to help with earthquake relief, while Barack Obama, the US president, has mobilised the country's military to provide emergency aid after the disaster which he described as "simply heartbreaking". Washington, which has nearly 40,000 military personnel in Japan, has ordered a flotilla including two aircraft carriers and support ships to the region to provide aid following the tsunami. Singapore is also deploying an urban search and rescue team in Japan, UNOCHA spokeswoman Byrs said, as Switzerland announced it was sending a team of about 25 rescue and medical experts accompanied by nine sniffer dogs. The team from Switzerland will be charged with searching for victims underneath the debris of the tsunami, Toni Frisch, head of the Swiss Humanitarian Aid Unit, said. The Swiss unit comes from a pool of at least 700 people ready for duty whose skills range from engineering, seismology, telecommunications and war surgery. Britain said it would be flying out 63 search and rescue personnel and two dogs to Japan later on Saturday in response to a request from Tokyo. The team will take up to 11 tonnes of equipment, including heavy lifting and cutting equipment. "People will have seen the scale of it, it's truly devastating, so we will need a really big co-ordinated international response and Britain is playing a full part in that," Jeremy Browne, from the country's foreign ministry, told the UK's Sky News. He also said William Hague, Britain's foreign minister, had spoken to his counterpart in Japan and offered help if necessary following the explosion at the Japanese nuclear reactor. Britain recently sent disaster search and rescue teams to New Zealand to assist after last month's earthquake in Christchurch which killed at least 166 people.

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