Recovery efforts continue in Japan - 23 Apr 2011

Recovery efforts continue in Japan. On Friday, April 22, the nation's government approved a US.5 billion emergency budget toward removal of rubble and rebuilding, as well as funding loans to small- and medium-sized businesses. In addition to the ensuing tsunami, last month's 9.0-magnitude earthquake claimed more than 14100 lives, with over 13300 others officially missing, not including an unknown number still unaccounted for. It also triggered the worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe, with material damage alone that could exceed US0 billion. This comes as Japan is facing a debt that is double the amount of its US trillion economy. At the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, workers continue their efforts to bring the crisis under control. TEPCO reported on Thursday that levels of radioactive material were 4000 times the national limit and higher than previously found in seawater near the water intake for reactor No. 2 on Wednesday morning. According to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, the increased concentration is due to a special fence set up in the area to keep the leakage from spreading. This was the same location where highly contaminated water was found to be seeping into the Pacific on April 2, with the first leak estimated to have amounted to 520 tons, or 20000 times the annual radiation limit for the plant. In attempts to ease international concerns at sea, Japan will also check radiation levels aboard ocean ...
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