Japan will send about 25,000 soldiers backed by boats and aircraft into its disaster zone today on an intensive land-and-sea mission to recover the bodies of those killed by last month’s earthquake and tsunami, the military said.
Agriculture officials also plan to send a team of veterinarians into the evacuation zone around the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to check on hundreds of thousands of abandoned cows, pigs and chickens, many of which are believed to have died of starvation and neglect. The government is considering euthanizing some of the dying animals, officials said.
About 14,300 people have been confirmed dead so far in the catastrophic March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Another 12,000 remain missing and are presumed killed. Some of their bodies were likely swept out to sea, while others were buried under the mass of rubble. Cleanup crews have discovered some remains as they gingerly removed rotting debris to clear the area for rebuilding.
However, the two-day military search operation will be far more extensive, Japanese ministry of defense spokesman Ippo Maeyama said yesterday.
“We will do our utmost to recover bodies for bereaved families,” he said.
A total of 24,800 soldiers will scour the rubble, backed by 90 helicopters and planes, he said. Another 50 boats, along with 100 navy divers, will search the waters up to 20km off the coast, he said. Police, coast guard and US troops will also take part.
“It’s been very difficult and challenging to find bodies because the areas hit by tsunami are so widespread,” he said.
Meanwhile, about 5,000 people marched in Tokyo yesterday to demand an end to nuclear power in Japan and a switch to alternative energy.
Brandishing placards bearing the slogan: “Bye Bye Genpatsu” (Goodbye Nuclear Power), demonstrators — including many young people and families — walked along a route from Yoyogi Park in the center of the capital.
“We are worried. Before Fukushima, I wasn’t thinking about it but now we must act, we must do it for our children,” said Hiroshi Iino, 43, who joined the “Energy shift parade” with his wife and two boys, aged five and nine.
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