Rescue workers used chainsaws and hand picks yesterday to dig out bodies in Japan’s devastated coastal towns, as Asia’s richest nation faced a mounting humanitarian, nuclear and economic crisis in the aftermath of a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed thousands.
Millions of people spent a third night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures along the devastated northeastern coast; the containment building of a second nuclear reactor exploded because of a hydrogen buildup, while the stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries including big names such as Toyota and Honda.
More than 10,000 people are estimated to have died in Friday’s double-headed tragedy, which caused unimaginable deprivation for people of this industrialized country that has not seen such hardships since World War II.
Photo: Reuters
In many areas there is no running water, no power and four to five-hour waits for gasoline. People are suppressing hunger with instant noodles or rice balls while dealing with the loss of loved ones and homes.
“People are surviving on little food and water. Things are simply not coming,” said Hajime Sato, a government official in Iwate Prefecture, one of the three hardest hit.
“We have repeatedly asked the government to help us, but the government is overwhelmed by the scale of damage and enormous demand for food and water,” he said.
“We are only getting around just 10 percent of what we have requested, but we are patient because everyone in the quake-hit areas is suffering.”
The local authorities were also running out of body bags and coffins, he said.
“We have requested funeral homes across the nation to send us many body bags and coffins, but we simply don’t have enough. We just did not expect such a thing to happen. It’s just overwhelming,” Sato added.
He said local authorities may ask foreign funeral homes to send them supplies.
The pulverized coast has been hit by more than 150 aftershocks since Friday, the latest one a magnitude 6.2 quake that was followed by a new tsunami scare yesterday.
Abandoning their search operations, soldiers told residents of the devastated shoreline in Soma, the worst hit town in Fukushima Prefecture, to run to higher ground.
Sirens wailed and soldiers shouted “find high ground. Get out of here”
“This is Japan’s most severe crisis since the war ended 65 years ago,” Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters on Sunday, adding that Japan’s future would be decided by its response.
Search parties arrived in Soma for the first time since Friday to dig out bodies. Ambulances stood by and body bags were laid out in an area cleared of debris, as firefighters used hand picks and chain saws to clear an indescribable jumble of broken timber, plastic sheets, roofs, sludge, twisted cars, tangled powerlines and household goods.
Helicopters buzzed overhead, surveying the destruction that spanned the horizon. Ships were flipped over near roads, a kilometer inland. Officials said one-third of the city of 38,000 people was flooded and thousands were missing.
According to officials, more than 1,800 people have been confirmed dead — including 200 people whose bodies were found on Sunday along the coast — and more than 1,400 were missing in Friday’s disasters. Another 1,900 were injured.
However, police in Miyagi Prefecture say 10,000 people are likely dead in their area alone. Miyagi, with a population of 2.3 million, was one of the hardest hit areas.
In the town of Minamisanrikucho, 10,000 people — nearly two-thirds of the population — have not been heard from since the tsunami wiped it out, a government spokesman said.
About a third of the town of Soma was wiped out, with several hundred homes washed away. Three districts of town on the shoreline are now covered in rubble, overturned cars and trucks and waist-high, dirty green water.
The government has sent 100,000 troops to spearhead the aid effort. It has sent 120,000 blankets, 120,000 bottles of water and 110,000 liters of gasoline plus food to the affected areas. However electricity would take days to restore it said.
At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and some 1.9 million households were without electricity.
One reason for the loss of power is the damage to at least three nuclear reactors, two of them at the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.
Tokyo Electric Power held off on imposing rolling blackouts planned for yesterday, but called for people try to limit electricity use.
Edano said the utility was still prepared to go ahead with power rationing if necessary. The decision reflected an understanding of the profound inconveniences many would experience.
Many regional train lines were suspended or operating on a limited schedule to help reduce the power load.
The planned blackouts of about three hours each were meant to help make up for a severe shortfall after key nuclear plants were left inoperable due to the earthquake and tsunami.
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