Japan Disaster

• More than one million Japanese take part in disaster drill

  More than one million Japanese took part in a national disaster drill Sunday as the country assessed its emergency readiness in the wake of a massive quake and tsunami in 2011.

• Bloggers create 'Quakebook' for Japan

  A group of bloggers have come together through the Internet to create a book of stories about the disaster in Japan

• Death toll from Japan quake, tsunami tops 10,000

  The official death toll from Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami passed the 10,000 mark Friday and was still climbing two weeks after the magnitude-9 quake struck off the northeastern coast and unleashed a cascade of disasters.Hundreds of thousands of survivors are still camped out in temporary shelters. Some 660,000 households do not have w...

• In Japan's danger zone, the stranded await the merciful

  Some are stuck in their homes, fearful of radiation, heeding government warnings to stay indoors, cut off without electricity or phone service. Others want to leave but have no gasoline. Still more, those whose homes were ruined, wait helplessly for evacuation at crowded shelters. All face dwindling supplies of heating fuel, food and water. A week ...

• Snowfall adds to Japan's misery, rescue efforts hampered

  Heavy snow and bitterly cold conditions continue to add to the misery of thousands of survivors in Japan.With relief efforts hampered, helicopters are being used to fly supplies to several evacuation centres which have been cut off by the snowfall.Plunging temperatures have put many elderly residents in makeshift evacuation centres further at risk....

• Radioactive material could reach California today: Report

  Small amount of radioactive material, blowing from Japan's damaged nuclear power plants, is expected to reach California today but experts have said the radiation would be "within safe limits" and poses no major risk, according to a media report. . (Read: Sleepy Californian town a tsunami magnet)Radioactive isotopes are being blown toward North Ame...

• Obama on Japan: Heart-broken, deeply concerned

  US President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he had asked nuclear regulators for a comprehensive review of the safety of US plants in light of the disaster in Japan, saying "Nuclear energy is an important part of our own energy future."In brief remarks at the White House, following a trip to the Japanese Embassy to express his condolences, Obama...

• Helicopters drop seawater on stricken reactor in Japan

  Military helicopters were on Thursday morning dumping seawater on a stricken nuclear reactor in north-eastern Japan to cool overheated fuel rods inside its core.Japanese news agency NHK broadcast pictures of a helicopter dropping a load of water on Unit 3, one of six reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.A defence ministry spokeswo...

• On YouTube, she spotted her family in rubble

  A student from Japan in the US was distraught after disaster struck her country. But she burst out with joy when she saw a YouTube video that showed her family home as the only one standing amid rubble.The video also highlighted her older sister holding a sign saying in Japanese - "we are all safe".Akiko Kosaka, enrolled at the University of Califo...

• Helicopter mission to cool down reactors aborted

  Japan aborted a mission to use a helicopter to cool down reactor number 3 at the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Earlier on Wednesday morning, two air force helicopters had lifted off from an air base near Sendai, carrying large buckets of water. However, the plan was changed as the radiation levels were too high for the pilots to f...

• School gymnasium till Friday, now a morgue

  Temporary morgues have been set up in the wrecked remains of public buildings in tsunami-devastated Japan's northeast as rescue workers continued a search for survivors on Wednesday.In the town of Higashi Matsushima in Miyagi prefecture, where the tsunami struck hard, a school gymnasium has become a temporary resting place for the dead.Desperate su...

• Miyagi, the worst hit in Friday's tsunami

  Vast areas in Japan have been left unrecognisable by the devastation caused by Friday's quake and tsunami. The coastline of Miyagi prefecture was one of the worst-hit regions.Police estimated 10-thousand dead among the 2.3 million people who lived in the prefecture, the Japanese equivalent of a state.South of Miyagis capital Sendai, near the epicen...

• Flight ban over Fukushima nuclear plant

  Japan has banned flights within a 30-km range of the Fukushima nuclear plant amid radiation fears due to a series of explosions at the facility on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.The ban by the transport ministry excludes aircraft engaged in search and rescue operations. It is not expected to have a major impact on scheduled commercial flights, Xinhua cit...

• 'Japan will rise again'

  Although the situation in Japan continues to be worrisome in the nuclear aftermath of the earthquake fed tsunami, city-based Japanese nationals hope that the country would soon get back on its feet. For 73 year-old Teruko Matsuoka, a Bangalore-based Japanese homemaker, this is not the first disaster that the country has experienced. During her chil...

• Japanese PM asks people to stay indoors

  Radiation is spewing from damaged reactors at a crippled nuclear power plant in tsunami-ravaged northeastern Japan in a dramatic escalation of the 4-day-old catastrophe. The Japanese Prime Minister has warned residents to stay inside or risk getting radiation sickness.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Tuesday that a fourth reactor at the ...