Seven dead as second earthquake strikes Turkey near city where 600 were killed in disaster three weeks ago

* 5.7-magnitude quake hits south of Van, eastern Turkey
* 20 buildings have collapsed, including two hotels
* People trapped in rubble can be heard calling out for help
* Workers manage to pull 23 survivors from the destruction
* Over 100 feared buried as rescuers search wreckage
* Rescue worker who had rushed to Turkey to help victims of last quake pulled from wreckage of latest tremor

Some Arab leaders offered haven for Assad: U.S.

Some Arab leaders have told the United States they are willing to provide safe haven to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to hasten his "inevitable" departure from power, a senior US official said on Wednesday.

Quake Kills at Least 3 in Turkey

A 5.6-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday in the same region hit by a larger quake two weeks ago killed at least three people and trapped others who had moved into damaged buildings that collapsed Wednesday, the Turkish media ...

Big asteroid has close encounter with Earth

This NASA radar image showing asteroid 2005 YU55 was obtained on November 7, 2011, at 11.45am PST (2.45pm EST/1945 UTC), when the space rock was at 3.6 lunar distances, which is about 860,000 miles, or 1.38 million kilometres, from Earth.


A black asteroid as big as an aircraft carrier has zoomed past Earth, delighting astronomers who trained telescopes on the ancient body in hopes of learning more about its composition and origin.

With a diameter estimated at 400 metres, or about a quarter of a mile, Asteroid 2005 YU 55 is the biggest asteroid to make a close pass by Earth since 1976.

During its closest approach, which occurred at 6.28pm EST (2328 GMT) yesterday, it was inside the orbit of the moon, about 322,000km above the planet. It posed no threat to either.






Thousands of professional and amateur astronomers were tracking the asteroid with telescopes, seeking to learn more about what it is made of, how fast it spins and ultimately, where it came from.

“It was pretty easy to find,” astronomer Ronald Dantowitz, director of the student-run Clay Center Observatory in Brookline, Massachusetts, told Reuters. “It’s moving differently than the stars are moving. It looks like a giant rock floating through space.”

With automated controls for tracking, the asteroid appeared to be fixed in position, while background stars were a blur, Dantowitz said. The asteroid, however, was moving at about 48,000kph.

Astronomers believe YU 55 has been visiting Earth for thousands of years, nudged out of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter after a gravitational elbowing by Jupiter.

Computer models simulating the asteroid’s path for the next 100 years show there is no chance it will hit Earth or the moon during that time, said Don Yeomans with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Astronomers do not expect it will be a threat beyond that time either but have not run the models beyond 100 years.

Asteroids are of interest to scientists trying to piece together how the solar system formed.

“It costs millions of dollars to send a spacecraft for a close encounter with an asteroid,” Dantowitz said. “Instead, this one is coming to us. It’s literally streaming through our backyard.”

YU 55 is believed to be one of the more common type, carbon-rich asteroids, albeit a large one. Its ancient rocks may contain water, metals and other materials that could be useful for space explorers.

NASA’s next human space venture beyond the International Space Station, a US$100 billion orbital research outpost flying about 385km above Earth, is a mission to an asteroid, targeted for 2025.

Japan earthquake - IAEA: Japan underestimated nuclear plant tsunami risk

Shares of Tokyo Electric Power Co fell to 289 yen on Thursday, the lowest level since it was listed on the stock exchange, coming under increasing pressure from selling by retail investors.

Radioactive water accumulating in Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant is set to start overflowing from storage trenches in five days, data provided by the company show. ...

The radiation from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi reactors poisoned farmlands, contaminated the sea, and sent invisible mists of radiation wafting around the world. The latest – and it's just the latest – atomic accident has raised new ...

Japan may close one nuclear plant, tiny radiation leak at another

Japan Atomic Power Co.’s Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant No.2 reactor is seen in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, in this March 14, 2010 file photo taken by Kyodo.


Japan today announced a tiny radiation leak at a nuclear reactor on its west coast, while another power company is expected to close a nuclear plant in central Japan due to its vulnerability to a major quake.

Electricity wholesaler Japan Atomic Power said it had stopped the leak after a minute amount of radiation was found in gas that escaped from the Tsuruga nuclear plant yesterday. It said there had been no impact on the environment.

Japan Atomic said it was investigating the cause of the leak, which is bound to increase public unease over the troubled nuclear industry in the wake of the massive earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear facility in March.



Japanese media reports said the country’s third biggest electricity producer, Chubu Electric Power Co., was expected later in the day to decide to temporarily shut one of its nuclear plants on the coast of central Japan until it can build a tsunami wall and take other steps to improve safety.

That could take two years, raising the risk of a shortage of electricity after the Fukushima nuclear plant was hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in the northeast.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has urged Chubu to close the Hamaoka plant, about 200km southwest of Tokyo, signalling a potential shift in energy policy following the worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

Chubu Electric Power Co shares tumbled as much as 14 per cent on the request. Chubu was due to hold a board meeting at 0630 GMT at which it was expected to make a final decision to close the plant, Japanese media said.

A board meeting on Saturday had failed to reach a consensus, reflecting worries over whether the company would be able to get alternative supplies of energy as well as cope with a sharp jump in its fuel costs.

The amount of radiation at Tsuruga was estimated at about one-four hundred thousandth of the annual legal limit, a Japan Atomic spokesman said, and there were no changes in readings from radiation monitoring devices placed around the plant.

The government is under pressure to review its energy policy, of which atomic power is a major part, after the March 11 quake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima nuclear power plant run by Tokyo Electric Power.

Nearly 26,000 people were killed or are unaccounted for following the natural disaster which triggered the world’s biggest nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986. The plant is still leaking radiation.

Government experts put the chance of a magnitude 8.0 quake hitting the Hamaoka area in the next 30 years at 87 per cent, which has raised questions over why it was built there in the first place.

Shares of Chubu were down 11 per cent at ¥1,570 in afternoon trade, after falling as low as ¥1,521. Chubu’s tumble helped push Tokyo’s electric and gas subindex down 2.7 per cent.

“This news is triggering uncertainty not just about Chubu Electric but the whole utility sector,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management.

“Investors are concerned that on the back of this news other reactors currently under inspection may not resume operations soon.”

Kan, under fire for his response to the crisis in northeast Japan after the March quake, said the government would try to prevent the halt of the Hamaoka reactors from causing power supply problems.

Chubu has said it can meet peak demand of 25,600 MW even if Hamaoka shuts. But relying on thermal plants to fill the power gap would push up costs by ¥700 million (RM26.1 million) a day — or about ¥256 billion a year, double its projected profit of ¥130 billion in the year to March 2012.

However, an unusually hot summer would raise the risk of Chubu not having enough capacity to meet peak demand, which could cause problems for Toyota Motor Corp and other major manufacturers with factories in the region.

Chubu generates a relatively small proportion of its power from nuclear plants, accounting for 14 per cent of the firm’s total electricity generated in 2009/10. That was below a 30 per cent average nationwide, while gas thermal power held a 47 per cent share.

Fukushima workers make progress in tackling reactor - "Fukushima is no Chernobyl" say nuclear experts - New video of Fukushima plant

Japan to stop pumping radioactive water in sea

Kaichiro Saito, CEO of Kakuboshi Co, a sake maker since 1902, checks damages at his sake brewery in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture


Japan expects to stop pumping radioactive water into the sea from a crippled nuclear plant today, a day after China expressed concern at the action, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long nuclear crisis.

“The emptying out of the relatively low radiation water is expected to finish tomorrow,” a Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) official said late yesterday.

Tepco is struggling to contain the worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, with its engineers pumping low-level radioactive seawater, used to cool overheated fuel rods, back into the sea for the past five days due to a lack of storage capacity.

Engineers say they are far from in control of the damaged reactors and it could take months to stabilise them and years to clear up the toxic mess left behind.



Nuclear reactor maker Toshiba Corp has proposed a 10-year plan to decommission four of the six damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, 240 km north of Tokyo, said Kyodo news agency.

But the government has said it was too early to have a “specific road map” for ending the nuclear crisis.

The magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 left 28,000 people dead or missing, and north-eastern Japan a splintered wreck.

Several countries have restricted food imports from Japan over radiation fears as Japan’s economy reels from the country’s worst disaster since World War Two. Disruptions to Japanese supply chains are reverberating around the world.

China will ban imports of farm produce, including food and feedstuff, from 12 areas in Japan, the official Xinhua news agency said today. It did not identify the 12 areas.

China said earlier it had detected 10 cases of ships, aircraft or cargo arriving from Japan with higher than normal levels of radiation since mid-March.

Xinhua reported earlier that trace levels of radioactivity had been detected in 22 Chinese provinces.

Yesterday, China said it would closely monitor Japan’s actions to regain control of the plant and demanded Tokyo provide swift and accurate information on the crisis.

South Korea has also criticised Japan, accusing it of incompetence for failing to notify its neighbours that it would pump radioactive water into the sea.

Radiation from Japan spread around the entire northern hemisphere in the first two weeks of the nuclear crisis, according to the Vienna-based Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO).

CTBTO’s 30 monitoring stations detected minute levels of radiation in North America after three days, in Europe after 12 days and the entire northern hemisphere after 15 days.

Tepco said it was continuing to inject nitrogen into one of the reactors to prevent a repeat of last month’s hydrogen explosions, which would release highly radioactive particles.

The world’s third largest economy is now in a “severe condition”, the government said yesterday.

Finance leaders of the G20 group of countries will ask Tokyo for a plan to resuscitate its economy as they see the damage from the earthquake as a risk to global growth, Takatoshi Kato, a former IMF deputy managing director, told Reuters yesterday.

Automaker Toyota Motor Corp plans to idle some of US plants late in April, while Honda Motor Co Ltd has extended reduced US production until April 22.

Power blackouts and restrictions, factory shutdowns, and a sharp drop in tourists have hit the world’s most indebted nation, which is facing a damages bill as high as US$300 billion (RM1.02 billion), making it by far the world’s costliest natural disaster.

Economists expect Japan to slip into recession this year.

“Japan’s economy is suddenly in a severe condition due to the effects of the earthquake,” said the Cabinet Office after releasing a survey of hotel and restaurant staff and taxi drivers, showing a record fall in confidence to levels last seen during the depths of the global financial crisis.

In an obvious sign of the downturn, taxis park in long lines in central Tokyo each night, their drivers staying warm by idling the motor as they wait forlornly for a fare.

A major aftershock on Thursday forced two companies, including electronics giant Sony Corp , to stop production because of power cuts.

On a brighter note, Japan’s top automakers Toyota and Nissan Motor Co said they planned to resume production at all domestic factories in stages starting on Monday, although output levels would be at half of original plans.

Japan's TEPCO puts out fire at damaged nuke plant

Crews are said to be fighting a fire at Fukushima's No. 4 reactor (AFP/Jiji Press) A fresh fire broke out at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant this morning, while a strong aftershock hit the east of the country. The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear power plant says workers discovered a small fire near a reactor building at its tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi complex but it was extinguished quickly.

Japan set to extend nuclear evacuation zone

Anti-nuclear protesters shout slogans during a march in front of Tokyo Electric Power Co’s headquarters in Tokyo, April 10, 2011.

A protester wearing a mask reading “Stop! Genpatsu”, or stop nuclear power plant, as she marches in Tokyo.

Japan plans to extend the evacuation zone around its crippled nuclear plant because of high radiation levels, local media reported today, with engineers no closer to regaining control of six reactors hit by a giant tsunami one month ago.

Concern at Japan’s inability to contain its nuclear crisis, caused by a March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is mounting, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s ruling party suffering embarrassing losses in local elections yesterday, and neighbouring China and South Korea voicing criticism.

Engineers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant north of Tokyo said yesterday that they were no closer to restoring the plant’s cooling system, which is critical if overheated fuel rods are to be cooled and the six reactors brought under control.

They are hoping to stop pumping radioactive water into the ocean today, days later than planned.

Four weeks after the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl a quarter of a century ago, the government was moving to extend the 20km evacuation zone due to high levels of radiation, the Asahi newspaper reported.

The government has so far refused to widen the zone, despite being urged to by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)and countries such as the United States and Australia advising its citizens to stay 80km away from the plant.

The Asahi said the government would extend the zone to 30km in certain areas, depending on wind direction, and residents would be given a week to prepare for evacuation.

The Japan Times said authorities would soon forcibly close the 20km zone, stopping people returning to their shattered homes to pick through the rubble for belongings.

Fukushima Governor Yuhei Sato criticised the evacuation policy, saying residents in a 20-30km radius were initially told to stay indoors and then advised to evacuate voluntarily.

“Residents in the 20-30km radius were really confused about what to do.” Sato told NHK television yesterday.





Media reports said that Sato would refuse to meet the president of Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) when he visits the area today.

It is Japan’s worst crisis since World War Two after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a huge tsunami battered its northeast coast, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing and rocking the world’s third-largest economy.

Political fallout

Japanese voters yesterday vented their anger at the government’s handling of the nuclear and humanitarian crisis, with Kan’s ruling Democratic Party of Japan losing nearly 70 seats in local elections.

The unpopular Kan was already under pressure to step down before March 11, but analysts say he is unlikely to be forced out during the crisis, set to drag on for months.

“The great disaster was a double tragedy for Japan,” Sankei newspaper said in an editorial today. “The first tragedy was the catastrophe caused by the earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear accident. The other misfortune was that the disaster resulted in prolonging Prime Minister Kan’s time in office.”

In Tokyo, around 5,000 people took to the streets in two separate anti-nuclear protests yesterday.

China and South Korea have both criticised Japan’s handling of the nuclear crisis, with Seoul calling it incompetent, reflecting growing international unease over the month-long atomic disaster and the spread of radiation.

Japan’s economy is reeling from the triple disaster and several countries have banned or restricted food imports after detecting radiation.

More critically, the nuclear crisis and power shortages have disrupted Japan’s manufacturing and electronics global supply chains, hitting computer and motor manufacturers in particular.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa today reiterated that the economy was likely to return to a recovery path once supply constraints caused by earthquake and tsunami eased, and as exports grew.

Radioactive sea water

Tokyo Electric has struggled to regain control of its nuclear plant. It is currently pumping nitrogen into reactors to counter a build-up of hydrogen and prevent another explosion sending more radiation into the air.

“We cannot say what the outlook is for the next stage,” Hidehiko Nishiyama, a deputy director-general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said yesterday.

In a desperate move to cool highly radioactive fuel rods, Tokyo Electric has pumped water on to reactors, some of which have experienced partial meltdown.

But the strategy has hindered moves to restore the plant’s internal cooling system, critical to end the crisis, as engineers have had to focus how to store 60,000 tonnes of contaminated water.

Engineers have been forced to pump low-level radioactive water, left by the tsunami, back into the sea in order to free up storage capacity for highly contaminated water from reactors.

One month to the day after Japan was devastated by the tsunami that left 25,000 dead, ANOTHER earthquake strikes off the SAME coast

* Tremors struck as country prepared to remember the dead
* Crippled nuclear plant evacuated after latest seismic activity
* Government pledges to do all it can to help survivors
* Frustrations increasing among residents of Fukushima exclusion zone
* Nuclear officials admit they cannot offer end date for plant crisis
* Evacuation zone around stricken plant could be expanded due to accumulation of radiation

A tsunami warning was issued for an hour after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Iwaki in Fukushima province, a month after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's north-east coast.

The latest quake came as sombre ceremonies were planned today to mark one month passing since the tragedy.

And there are fears it could have catastrophic ramifications for the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

The plant has since been evacuated, although its operator said no nuclear damage has been reported after this latest burst of seismic activity.

 Silent reflection: Japan's Ground Self-Defence Force members in a moment of silence at 2:46 pm, exactly a month after a massive earthquake struck the area in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture

 Police officers in protective suits search for bodies at a destroyed area, about 18km from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power station

 Memorial: A group of Japanese Shinto priests (on the left) and Buddhist monks at Yugihama Beach during a pray for Japan memorial event in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture

 Police officers in protective suits observe a moment of silence for those who were killed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as they search for bodies at a destroyed area in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture

 Buddhist monks pray in an area destroyed by tsunami in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, one month to the day after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the city

A warning was issued for a 3-foot tsunami, the same as after another 7.1 aftershock that shook the northeast coast last week, but was lifted after about an hour.

The U.S. Geological Survey said today's very shallow quake was centred 14 miles northeast of the town of Iwaki, to the south of the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Pacific Tsunami Center said the quake would had not triggered a widespread tsunami that could reach the U.S. and Canadian West coasts but could cause a local one.

People at a large electronics store in central Sendai screamed and ran outside during today's incident, though the shaking made it hard to move around. Mothers grabbed their children, and windows shook. After a minute or two, people returned to the store.

There were no new reports of damage. Aftershocks have repeatedly rattled the disaster-weary region, but there is little left in the northeast to ruin.

Last Thursday's 7.1-magnitude aftershock, which had been the strongest tremor since the day the original quake hit, did sink hundreds of thousands more households into darkness, however. Most of that electricity has been restored.

Buildings shook and Tokyo's main international airport briefly shut both of its runways, but there have been no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the latest quake, which comes as Japan reflected on the devastation wreaked by last month's disaster.

However, thousands of bodies are yet to be found, a tsunami-flooded nuclear power plant is still spewing radiation and more than 150,000 people remain living in shelters.

'We offer our deepest condolences to those who lost their loved ones,' chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said today at a brief news conference where he pledged the government would do whatever it could to help survivors and end the nuclear crisis.

'We are sorry for causing inconvenience and difficulties to those who still live in shelters.'

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the tsunami it generated flattened communities along hundreds of miles of coastline. The government has estimated the cost of damages from the disaster could grow to $310billion.

In an open letter printed in seven newspapers across the globe, Prime Minister Naoto Kan thanked other nations for their help since the disaster.

'Through our own efforts and with the help of the global community, Japan will recover and come back even stronger. We will then repay you for your generous aid,' he wrote.

'With this in our hearts, we now stand together dedicated to rebuilding the nation.'

People in hard-hit towns gathered for ceremonies at 2:46pm, the exact moment of the massive quake a month earlier.

'My chest has been ripped open by the suffering and pain that this disaster has caused the people of our prefecture,' said Yuhei Sato, the governor of Fukushima, which saw its coastal areas devastated by the tsunami and is home to the damaged plant at the centre of the nuclear crisis. 'I have no words to express my sorrow.'

In a devastated coastal neighbourhood in the city of Natori, three dozen firemen and soldiers removed their hats and helmets and joined hands atop a small hill that has become a memorial for the dead.

Earlier, four monks in pointed hats rang a prayer bell there as they chanted for those killed.

In the industrial town of Kamaishi Governor Takuya Tasso led a moment of commemoration as a loud siren rang through a high school gymnasium being used as a shelter. He bowed while people who have lived there since the tsunami kneeled on makeshift futons, bowed their heads and clasped their hands.

The earthquake and tsunami flattened communities along hundreds of miles of coastline. More than 158,000 people are still without electricity and 210,000 have no running water, although some of that is because of the 7.1-magnitude aftershock that rattled the area last Thursday.

'Even after a month, I still cry when I watch the news,' said Marina Seito, 19, a student at a junior college who recalled being in a basement restaurant in Sendai when the earthquake hit. Plates fell and parts of the ceiling crashed down around her.

Adding to the misery is radiation spewing from the Fukushima Daiichi complex 140 miles northeast of Tokyo. The 70,000 to 80,000 people who lived within 12 miles of the plant must stay away from their homes indefinitely.

'We have no future plans. We can't even start to think about it because we don't know how long this will last or how long we will have to stay in these shelters,' said Atsushi Yanai, a 55-year-old construction worker. The tsunami spared his home, but he has to live in a shelter anyway because it is in the evacuation zone.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Monday that residents of five more communities, some more than 20 miles from the plant, are also being urged to leave because of high levels of radiation.

'This is not an emergency measure that people have to evacuate immediately,' Edano said. 'We have decided this measure based on long-term health risks.'

Meanwhile, nuclear safety official Hidehiko Nishiyama apologised for the worry and inconvenience caused by the radiation spilling from the plant, where cooling systems disabled by the March 11 tsunami still have not been restored and likely won't be for several months.

'We've done all we could to come this far,' Mr Nishiyama said yesterday.

'Unfortunately, we still cannot give any timeline for when we can move on to the next phase, but we are hoping to achieve a sustainable cooling system, contain radiation and bring the situation under control as soon as possible.'

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co reiterated that it is not considering entombing the hot reactors in concrete, as was done at Chernobyl in 1986 when a reactor fire burned out of control. Japan's nuclear crisis is the world's worst since then.

 

Chiyoko Sasaki, 67, covers her face as she sees her husband Sueo, 72, in a coffin at a makeshift mortuary in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan

 Clean-up: A remote-controlled truck removes debris at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant

 Police officers in protective suits observe a moment of silence for those who were killed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, as they search for bodies at a destroyed area in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture

 Two-year-old Ayaka and family members pray her missing grandmother and great-grandmother at a vacant lot where they lived in Ishinomaki, Miyagi prefecture

 Deep sea denizen: This 11ft yellow ribbonfish is usually only found in deep water, but may have been forced out of its habitat by the aftershocks. It was caught near Taiwan

 A worker in the installed de-contamination area of the quake-proof building, to help expand the protection area at TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant

 Masataka Shimizu, President of Tokyo Electric Power Company which owns the Fukushima nuclear plant (third right) offers a silent prayer for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami

 Buddhist monks pray in an area destroyed by tsunami in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, northern Japan, one month to the day after an earthquake and tsunami devastated the city

Daisuke Koizumi, a 30-year-old Ishinomaki Fire Department firefighter, prays as he searches for the missing, including three fellow firefighters, while young boys pray for the victims atTsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture

Japan says economy in ‘severe’ condition after disaster

Japan said today that its economy was in a severe condition following last month’s triple disaster triggered by one of the biggest earthquakes on record, with sentiment in its service sector registering the sharpest fall ever.

Underlining the ferocity of the damage to the economy from the disaster, in which a nuclear power plant was crippled by the giant tsunami following the March 11 quake, the government also asked major companies to cut electricity use in the peak summer months by up to a quarter.






The Tokyo Stock Exchange said the power cuts meant it would have to delay plans to extend trading hours.

“Japan’s economy is suddenly in a severe condition due to the effects of the earthquake,” the Cabinet Office said after the release of its March survey of workers such as taxi drivers and restaurant staff.

A strong aftershock last night — one of the strongest of more than 400 of magnitude greater than 5.0 since the massive March 11 tremor — shook the already ravaged northeast, forcing two companies, including Sony Corp, to stop production because of power cuts.

At least two people were killed after the 7.4-magnitude tremor.

There was a brief scare when water leaks were found today at the Onagawa nuclear plant in the northeast but Japan’s nuclear safety agency said it had not detected any change in radiation levels.

And a relieved Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said the latest quake had not caused any more damage to its wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, though it did have to briefly evacuate workers because of a tsunami alert that was later withdrawn.

An encouraging note was sounded by the UN’s nuclear watchdog, with one of its officials saying there were signs of progress in stabilising the Fukushima plant, though the situation remained very serious.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had not detected any change in radiation levels following last night’s quake.

“The situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious . . . (but) there are early signs of recovery in some functions such as electrical power and instrumentation,” the IAEA’s head of nuclear safety, Denis Flory, said.

The agency said radiation in the region around the plant, as measured by gamma dose rates, had peaked in the early days of the crisis, and aside from a rise on March 22, had since fallen to “a level very close to background”.


Japan’s neighbours have grown increasingly anxious at the risk of contamination from radiation, with some schools in South Korea closing because of fears of toxic rain. Officials there said the radiation levels in the atmosphere were harmless.

About 28,000 people are dead or missing after last month’s triple disaster of quake, tsunami or nuclear crisis in Japan’s northeast.

Disrupts business

It has disrupted business, affected supply chains around the world, and reduced industrial output from Japan, a major exporter.

The central bank said it expected both output and exports to remain weak because of the impact of the quake.

“Output will hover at a low level for the time being but then start to increase as supply constraints are mitigated,” the Bank of Japan said in its monthly report for April.

Companies and households will need to cut back significantly on power usage this summer when demand is at its peak, Trade Minister Banri Kaieda said after a cabinet meeting.

He urged the big companies to cut use of electricity by 25 per cent.

But some ministers at the cabinet meeting today called for an end to a campaign for “self restraint” by the public adopted immediately after the March 11 disaster to cut use of fuel or electricity and discourage stockpiling of necessities.

“Some cabinet ministers said excessive self-restraint could worsen the economy, weakening economic power for reconstruction,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.

Preventing more explosions

Tokyo Electric said it was continuing to inject nitrogen into one of its Fukushima reactors to prevent a repeat of the hydrogen explosions last month.

The plant is still far from under control and engineers have been forced to pump in tonnes of water to cool down reactors, in the process creating radioactive water that has to be stored, though some has already been released into the sea.

Officials say it could take months to bring the reactors under control and years to clear up the toxic mess left behind.

The government has already set up a 20km exclusion zone around the plant, banned fishing along much of the northeast coast, and set up evacuation centres for the tens of thousands forced to leave their homes following the crisis.

Strong Aftershock Kills 3 in NE Japan - Japan aftershock raises fears - Strong aftershock rattles Japan raises tsunami fears - Tsunami warning lifted after new Japan quake - Aftershock in Japan worries WNYers

Tsunami dog found alive and well in Japan after THREE WEEKS adrift at sea on a floating house

It appears almost too good to be true, but this little dog has been found alive and well adrift at sea, an astonishing three weeks after the tsunami that devastated Japan.

Members of the Japan Coast Guard came across the dog on Friday as they were conducting an aerial search of the area.

Against all the odds, the dog appears to have survived by living in a partially submerged house that had been swept out to sea.

Against all odds: The dog appears to have survived by clinging to a house that had been swept away by the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11

A fishy tale: It seems almost too good to be true, but this little dog seems to have survived against all odds and was discovered by coastguards floating on a raft at sea

Safe and hound: A member of the Japan Coast Guard comforts the dog that seems to have survived an amazing three weeks at sea following the devastating tsunami

Local television showed showed pictures of the dog scampering around the roof of the house before it disappeared inside through a hole in the roof.

Rescuers had hoped to find more tsunami survivors living inside the house but after tearing the roof open, it was found to be empty apart from the dog.

Despite its three weeks at sea, the medium-sized brown dog seemed to be in reasonably good condition considering its ordeal.

The discovery of the dog is a rare glimmer of hope in Japan where thousands of people are believed to have perished in the disaster.

The nation is now gripped by the ongoing nuclear threat posed by the unstable Fukushima plant as workers continue to battle to restore vital cooling systems damaged by the quake.

With mops, cranes and immense courage, Japan picks up the pieces and begins the long, slow process of rebuilding

For days after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami which obliterated the north-east Japanese coast, the people were simply shellshocked.

There followed a lot of suffering, bereavement in horrific measures and the realisation that for the lucky survivors life would never be the same again.

But slowly - despite thousands of refugees living out of cardboard boxes and with fears of radiation ever-present - the Japanese are beginning to swing into action.

Firstly, there is an enormous amount of mopping and cleaning to be done, and how some of the ships, cars, houses, mangled steel and general detritus will be removed is anyone's guess, but construction is occurring if only on a small scale.

The stoic Japanese have got a mammoth job in front of them, but some of them can glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it appears very dim to the rest of us.

 Volunteer workers clear the mud on in Matsushima, Miyagi

 The lights are on and there's someone home: Lights from vehicles are caught in a long exposure in Yamada where a bedroom window light shows signs of life

The buildings represent a new beginning for the local people

A set of 36 houses are being built in the grounds of a junior high school Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture

People shift mud and debris from a boutique at Kamaishi in Iwate prefecture

Sailors from Navy Misawa sailors are assisting with clean up in the tsunami-damaged city of Hachinohe

Students and U.S. soldiers mop up in a high school gymnasium in Ishinomaki

A U.S. Marine teams up with Japanese soldiers in cleaning up the mud-covered floor of a classroom at the devastated city of Ishinomaki

Marines team up with Japanese soldiers and a school official in cleaning up the mud-covered floor of an auditorium

 A man works in mud in front of his house in Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture

 A worker operates the excavator during a clean-up operation in Tarou, north of Morika

 An aerial picture shows a view of Sendai airport after clean-up operations

 A worker cleans up at Sendai airport

 A set of 36 houses are being built in the grounds of a junior high school Rikuzentakata, Iwate prefecture

 Workers build temporary accommodation and shelters for local residents in Miyagi

 Akiko Hatareyama digs mud out of what is left of her house in front of a grounded ship in Kesennuma

 A woman helps to clean up a sporting goods store in downtown Kesennuma

 A worker grabs a destroyed car during clean-up operations in Sendai, Miyagi

 Volunteers return a tatami mat to a resident's house in Higashi-Matsushima, in Miyagi prefecture

 Workers shift a damaged car during clean-up operations in Sendai

 A man retrieves belongings from his house in Miyako, Iwate prefecture

 Workers clear mud and sludge from the streets in Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture