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An 80-year-old woman and her 16-year-old grandson were rescued from their damaged home on Sunday in the city of Ishinomaki, nine days after the northeast was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami, NHK public TV said.

In the face of unseen dangers, the firefighters at Fukushima have the weight of an apprehensive nation’s expectations — and their families’ worst fears — riding on their shoulders.

With radiation leaking from a disaster-hit nuclear plant, the crews have spent days spraying tonnes of water to try to cool overheating fuel rods and prevent a catastrophic meltdown — potentially risking their own health.

“When I told her that I was going to Fukushima, my wife replied, ‘I wish you would be a savior of Japan’,” said Yasuo Sato, commander of the Tokyo Fire Department’s Hyper Rescue Unit, which sent dozens of firefighters to join the dousing efforts.

Exhausted by his efforts, tears welled up in Sato’s eyes as he said he was not sure whether he had lived up to his wife’s exhortations.

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The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday said it is prioritizing the evacuation of Filipinos in Fukushima Prefecture and other nearby cities in Japan in danger of exposure to radiation from a damaged nuclear power plant.

DFA Spokesman Ed Malaya said Japanese authorities have declared a 20-30 km exclusion zone from the Fukushima plant while other countries recommended an 80-km exclusion zone. He said the embassy chartered 3 buses to bring Filipinos in Fukushima and nearby prefectures to Tokyo, which is 250 kilometers away from the plant.

“Contingency planning is already being done for planes and boats that will be sent to Tokyo, Japan if Filipinos there need to be evacuated,” he told radio dzMM.

He added that the DFA is in talks with Philippine Airlines and other carriers to increase flights to Tokyo if an evacuation is warranted.

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Legions of Google workers are devoting a fifth of their work time or more to building technology to help to deal with the disaster in Japan.

Google has long allowed employees to spend 20% of their time on engineering projects that interest them but which don’t fall into their usual area of focus.

The havoc and death wrought on Japan by a powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami has prompted many “Googlers” to devote their “20-percent time” to crafting Digital Age tools for handling the crisis.

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The official number of dead and missing after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened Japan’s northeast coast has passed 13,000, police said Thursday, but reports hinted at a much higher toll.

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Two more buses will be deployed to pick up Filipinos affected by the strong earthquake and nuclear radiation crisis in Fukushima, Japan.

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ABS-CBN has set up a 24-hour helpline for people who have friends or relatives in Japan, which has been hit by a massive earthquake and a tsunami.

It aims to help ease the anxiety of people who have friends or family members in Japan by getting information about the whereabouts of Filipinos in the disaster-hit country.

It will also inform the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine embassy, and consulates in Japan about the people who can’t be reached.

Trunkline

411-0011 | 411-0012 | 415-2272

Smart

09294447372 

Globe
09276760652 

or log on to abs-cbn.com/kapamilyahelpline

(Source: abs-cbnnews.com)