TOKYO: Japan faces a potential catastrophe after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating towards Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.
---- EDITORS NOTE ----- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE AFP PHOTO / HO / MANDATORY CREDIT: "Sea Shepherd Conservation Society" NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS NO ARCHIVES This handout image received on March 15, 2011 and taken on March 12, 2011 by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society shows the devastation to the town of Itsuchi in Iwate prefecture, taken by one of Sea Shepherd's team, the day after the area was rocked by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami. A Sea Shepherd team, who were in Otsuchi to monitor local fishing practices, witnessed the destructive force of the tsunami on March 11 themselves as they managed to evacuate to higher ground before a wall of water hit the town.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30km of the facility north of Tokyo — a population of 140,000 — to remain indoors amid the world’s most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Around eight hours after the explosions, the UN weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean, away from Japan and other Asian countries.
The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organisation added that weather conditions could change.
As concern about the crippling economic impact of the nuclear and earthquake disasters mounted, Japanese stocks fell as much as 14 per cent before ending down 9.5 per cent, compounding a slide of 7.5 per cent the day before. The two-day fall has wiped some US$620 billion off the market.
Radiation levels in the city of Maebashi, 100km north of Tokyo, and in Chiba prefecture, nearer the city, were up to 10 times normal levels, Kyodo news agency said. — Reuters