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Japan To Expand Evacuation Area Around Stricken Nuclear Plant

11.04.2011 10:18

The Japanese government is expanding the evacuation area around a nuclear power plant damaged by last month's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Japan had imposed a 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant following the March 11 disaster.

But government spokesman Yukio Edano today said authorities were urging people in several areas outside the exclusion zone to evacuate.

"We have made a new decision to expand the evacuation zone," he said. "This is because the radiation in some areas outside the 20- kilometer radius evacuation zone are higher depending on weather conditions or geographical conditions."

Ceremonies and a minute of silence were held today to mark the exact moment the earthquake struck.

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the massive tsunami it triggered left nearly 28,000 people dead or missing and 150,000 people homeless.

Japan was struck by a powerful aftershock today, which the U.S. Geological Survey said measured 7.1 magnitude, but there was no tsunami.

compiled from agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/japan_one-month_anniversary_fukushima_tsunami_earthquake/3553265.html

Copyright (c) 2011. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.