Tokyo is 150 miles away from Fukushima but residents are right to be worried about the unfolding nuclear disaster since the authorites have been failing to communicate truthfully. Tokyo citizens are prepared for a possible lockdown as foreign embassies advise citizens to leave the city.
This article titled “Japan’s nuclear emergency prompts panic buying in Tokyo” was written by Justin McCurry in Osaka, for The Guardian on Tuesday 15th March 2011 08.52 UTC News of a serious radiation leak at the Fukushima nuclear plant has sparked panic buying in Tokyo, as some residents started to leave the capital to escape potential contamination. Several embassies advised their citizens to leave affected areas, including Tokyo, and some multinational companies either told staff to leave or were considering relocating outside the city. As officials urged people living near the stricken plant to stay indoors, residents in the capital, 150 miles to the south, began preparing for the possibility of a similar lockdown. Experts were keen to stress, however, that only “minute” levels of radiation had been detected in Tokyo. Weather forecasters said winds near the atomic plant, which experienced a third explosion on Tuesday morning, were blowing in a south-westerly direction – towards Tokyo – but would move in a westerly direction later in the day. People in the capital, home to 12 million, snapped up radios, torches, candles, fuel containers and sleeping bags, while for the fourth day there was a run on bread, canned goods, instant noodles, bottled water and other foodstuffs at supermarkets. Retailers said the panic buying was reminiscent of the oil crisis in the 1970s. The electronics firm Panasonic said it was increasing production of batteries, which were being bought in large quantities as far away as Hiroshima in the south-west. Fears are rising that if the hoarding frenzy continues it will affect the ability to deliver emergency supplies to the disaster zone. “The situation is hysterical,” said Tomonao Matsuo, a spokesman for the instant noodle maker Nissin Foods. “People feel safer just by buying Cup Noodles.” Foreign journalists covering the nuclear crisis, including reporters from the BBC and CNN, withdrew from the Fukushima area. On Monday, the German magazine Der Spiegel said its veteran war correspondent was being pulled out of Tokyo. Tourists cut short holidays and descended on international airports in Tokyo and Osaka, seeking flights home. They included about 200 South Koreans who have now arrived back in Seoul. Liezel Strauss, a South African, said on Twitter on Tuesday morning: “I just woke up to several calls & emails, family & husband freaking out, it’s time to go, flight booked to singapore this pm.” She added: “Realised no use staying stressing + freaking my family out if i’m not helping and physically contributing, I want to but reality is I’m not.” The number of people stranded at Narita airport, near Tokyo, rose after airlines cancelled flights but officials said there had been no surge in passenger numbers. Air China cancelled flights to Tokyo from Beijing and Shanghai. Other airlines in the region said they were monitoring the situation but had no immediate plans to cancel services. South Korea has urged its nationals in Japan to stay away from the quake zone while Germany advised its citizens to consider leaving the country. The French embassy warned in an advisory that a radioactive wind could reach Tokyo on Tuesday evening and advised its citizens to leave. Britain’s Foreign Office advised against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and north-eastern Japan. “Our advice is people should take their lead from the Japanese authorities,” the Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne told Sky News. The US state department urged its citizens to avoid tourism and non-essential travel to Japan. “[Our] travel advice is not to go to that part of Japan in any case unless you have an extremely compelling reason for doing so,” it said. Japan’s government has ordered people within 12 miles of the Fukushima No 1 plant, about 150 miles north-east of Tokyo, to evacuate. Those living between 12 and 19 miles from the plant were told to stay indoors due to fears of exposure to radiation. In Saitama, a prefecture north of Tokyo where safe but higher radiation levels have been detected, residents struggled to secure food. Yoshiyuki Sakuma was one of many who could not find a single bag of rice. “I couldn’t find any anywhere,” he said, adding he was now searching for bread. “If you lose electricity, water and gas, at least you can still eat bread.”
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