Page 5 - 2011 Disaster News Today

Tanks filled with water treated after cooling melted nuclear fuel dot the premises of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. (Asahi Shimbun file photo) The government continues to defer a decision on dealing with more than 1 million tons of contaminated water stored at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, an issue that has drawn international attention. The Cabinet on March 9 approved the government’s revised basic policy for reconstruction of the Tohoku region for fiscal 2021, which be...

MINAMI-SOMA, Fukushima Prefecture--Runa Hoshiyama is starting to ask questions that her mother is re

Sumo ring offering respite to Tohoku victims a decade after disaster Shinji Sato is a Japanese fourth-grader born the week before the disastrous magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck Japans east coast in March of 2011. Carried out of the hospital shortly before the tsunami swallowed up his coastal town of Yamada in Iwate Prefecture on March 11, Sato grew up strong and healthy in a community that benefited in its recovery from a group of sumo wrestlers who charged forward to provide aid. Y...

High school students want to hand down 2011 disaster experience Around 90 percent of high school students at six schools in northeastern Japan said they wanted their experiences from the March 11, 2011, quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster to be handed down to future generations in the hope lessons can be learned, a Kyodo News survey found Tuesday. In the survey that was distributed to 210 students, 89 percent, or 187 students, said they would generally like to hand down their memories to those ...

The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami forever changed the life of a 50-year-old man living in

Ground Self-Defense Force members search for survivors in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in March 2011. (Provided by GSDFs 14th Brigade) Extensive periods working in the aftermath of major natural disasters heightens the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a long-term study of Self-Defense Forces members. The finding has ramifications for those working for other companies and organizations and who spend inordinate amounts of time helping disaster victims. “Japan is exp...

Construction continues in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. The infrastructure projects include river embankments, bridges and roads. (Shigetaka Kodama using a drone) ISHINOMAKI, Miyagi Prefecture--This coastal city has been transformed, courtesy of a massive injection in government reconstruction spending following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster that reduced it to ruins. But the 1.9 trillion yen ($17.9 billion) pumped in to rebuild the northeastern city facing the Pacific did little to ...

TEPCO president vows to responsibly scrap Fukushima reactors The president of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc., the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, has vowed to responsibly scrap the crippled reactors and revitalize the economies of its host communities ahead of the 10th anniversary of the accident. In a recent online interview with Kyodo News, Tomoaki Kobayakawa said the utility is "making all-out efforts" in the decommissioning work and to achieve economic revitaliz...

KANAZAWA--Ten years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, Satoshi Murakami continues to

Disaster gives badminton star Momota perspective in Olympic quest For Tokyo Olympic gold medal favorite Kento Momota, it is perhaps fitting that a badminton career filled with so many ups and downs is so closely tied to disaster, in his case the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that occurred in northeastern Japan. Reflecting on the event that struck the nation 10 years ago, the worlds top-ranked mens singles player said he was in a state of confusion and despair on March 11 when he saw the shocking ...