W O R L D

Snow hits rescue work in Japan
Sendai (Japan), March 16
Heavy snow blanketed Japan’s devastated northeast on Wednesday, hindering rescue work and adding to the woes of the few, mainly elderly, residents who remained in the area worst hit by last week’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

Japan was warned over N-plants: WikiLeaks
London: Japan was warned more than two years ago by the international nuclear watchdog that its nuclear power plants were not capable of withstanding powerful earthquakes, leaked diplomatic cables reveal.

Radiation & health hazards
Sievert: Unit used to measure radiation and quantifies the amount absorbed by human tissues

Ukrainians recall Chernobyl sacrifice
Kiev, March 16 
If there is one person outside Japan who knows what the crisis workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant are going through now it is 64-year-old Andriy Chudinov.

Bahrain forces overrun protest camp, 6 dead
Manama, March 16
Backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, the army and riot police today cracked down on anti-government protesters driving them out from a landmark square in the heart of Bahrain capital leaving six persons dead in firing and clashes, witnesses and officials said.

Libyan troops shell Ajdabiya
Cairo, March 16
Libyan forces closed in on the opposition stronghold of Benghazi with troops today pounding the key town of Ajdabiyah as embattled Muammar Gaddafi vowed to crush the month-old uprising. As world powers failed to agree on a common line on Libya, Gaddafi’s troops inflicted heavy bombardment on the rebel-held Ajdabiyah, the last town before Benghazi.

Model accuses Oz agency of racism
Melbourne, March 16
An Indian-origin model has accused an Australian modelling agency of racial discrimination as she is not a Caucasian, media here reported. According to a report in the local daily ‘WA Today’, 25-year-old model Kema Rajandran was told by a Perth-based modelling agency that her work chances were “limited” in the country because she was not Caucasian.

Berlusconi ‘had paid sex with teen 13 times’
Milan, March 16
Premier Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex with an under-age Moroccan teen 13 times at his villa near Milan, prosecutors have said in a document filed seeking indictments against three aides for allegedly soliciting prostitutes for the Italian leader.

Snow hits rescue work in Japan

A woman holds her dog as they are scanned for radiation at a scanning centre near Fukushima nuclear plant on Wednesday. — AP/PTI

Rescue workers search for bodies after digging a car out of debris in Miyagi prefecture in northern Japan on Wednesday. — Reuters

Sendai (Japan), March 16
Heavy snow blanketed Japan’s devastated northeast on Wednesday, hindering rescue work and adding to the woes of the few, mainly elderly, residents who remained in the area worst hit by last week’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

In Sendai, once a city but now a waterlogged wasteland, firefighters and relief teams sifted through mounds of rubble, hoping to find any signs of life.

But, like in most other towns, rescuers just pulled out body after body, which they wrapped in brightly coloured blankets and lined up neatly against the grey, grim landscape.

“The strong smell of decaying bodies and the dirty seawater make search extremely difficult,” said Yin Guanghui, a member of a Chinese rescue team working in the battered town of Ofunato. “Powerful waves in the tsunami would repeatedly hit houses in the area. Anyone trapped under the debris would drown in no time, without any chance to survive.”

Japanese media said at least two persons were pulled out alive from the rubble, more than 72 hours after the earthquake and tsunami struck. But rescue officials said the snow weakened what little chance they had of finding any more survivors.

“Snow has just come down in a blanket. Visibility is just 40 metres,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from what remained of Otsuchi, a fishing hamlet.

“People are still working, the army is out here. But the fire service has taken off because they are worried they won’t get back to their base because of the snow.”

Officials estimate Friday’s earthquake and tsunami have killed at least 10,000 persons, with thousands missing. Those who did survive lost everything they owned and now face shortages of food and water, no electricity or heating and frequent aftershocks - some as strong as a magnitude - that have rattled the country.

Meanwhile, the meteorology agency said temperatures could drop as low as -2°C in Sendai on Wednesday.

Broadcaster NHK offered tips on how to stay warm - wrap your trunk in newspaper and cling film - and how to boil water using empty food cans and candles.

Rescuers said their main concern was for the elderly, who make up the majority of the scores of people packed into shelters. “They are having a very tough time,” said Fuller. “They need regular medication and proper care. A lot of problems, though, are psychological, people are so stressed out. They are getting three meals a day, but probably more food needs to come.” In addition to their physical well-being, many elderly people at shelters were traumatised by what they had been through, and just sat huddled on blankets, waiting, but not sure for what.

“Right after the earthquake, I was told to evacuate as soon as possible. I couldn’t bring anything, but myself,” said silver-haired Kiyoko Abe at a shelter in Ishimomaki, Miyagi prefecture.

Her husband sat smiling beside her, occasionally wiping away tears. — Reuters

What happened at FUKUSHIMA

• The tsunami following Friday's earthquake damaged the plant's capabilities to pump the reactors with water and submerge nuclear fuel rods to prevent them from overheating.
• The operators have tried to cool the reactors by releasing pressure and pumping in sea water but with limited success, leaving some of the fuel rods fully or partially exposed.
• The exposed nuclear fuel rods have reacted with steam and produced hydrogen, a combustible gas, which accumulated in the buildings that house the reactors and led to explosions at the No.1 and No.3 reactors.
• Japan asked the United States for more equipment to help cool the reactors after a dangerous drop in coolant levels that exposed fuel rods in the No. 2 reactor, where another blast took place. A fall in coolant levels indicates that the reactor may be in danger of overheating with nuclear fuel inside the core pressure vessel melting.

Japan was warned over N-plants: WikiLeaks

London: Japan was warned more than two years ago by the international nuclear watchdog that its nuclear power plants were not capable of withstanding powerful earthquakes, leaked diplomatic cables reveal. An official from the International Atomic Energy Agency had said in 2008 that safety rules were out of date and strong earthquakes would pose a “serious problem” for nuclear power stations. Japan pledged to upgrade safety at all of its nuclear plants, but will now face inevitable questions over whether it did enough. While it responded to the warnings by building an emergency response centre at the Fukushima plant, it was only designed to withstand magnitude 7.0 tremors. Friday’s devastating earthquake was a magnitude 9.0 shock.

According to a report in the Telegraph, the news is likely to put further pressure on Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, who has been criticised for “dithering” over the country's response to the ongoing crisis. — PTI

Radiation & health hazards

Measurement & Vulnerability

Sievert: Unit used to measure radiation and quantifies the amount absorbed by human tissues

1000 Microsieverts: 1 Millisievert

1 Sievert: 1,000 Millisieverts

• People generally exposed to between 1-10 millisieverts of radiation per year caused by radioactive substances in air and soil.
• Every international air flight exposes passengers to higher than normal levels of radiation
• A whole body CT Scan will give a radiation of 20 to 30 millisieverts
• A single organ CT scan involves a dose of less than 10 millisieverts
• A dental X-Ray = 10 microsieverts

Note: Radiation levels around Tokyo on Tuesday evening were less than 1 Microsievert, smaller than a dental X-Ray. Radiation levels on Wednesday morning at the Fukushima plant reached 10 millisieverts an hour before falling. But on Tuesday it had reached the level of 400 millisieverts an hour

Impact of exposure on health

Exposure to 50-100 mSv : changes in blood chemistry

500 mSv: nausea, within hours

700 mSv : vomiting

750 mSv : hair loss within 2-3 weeks

900 mSv : diarrhoea

1,000 mSv : haemorrhage

4,000 mSv : Possible death within 2 to 3 months, if not treated

10,000 mSv : Destruction of intestinal lining, internal bleeding and death within 1-2 weeks

20,000 mSv : Damage to the central nervous system, loss of consciousness within minutes and finally death

Ukrainians recall Chernobyl sacrifice

Kiev, March 16 
If there is one person outside Japan who knows what the crisis workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant are going through now it is 64-year-old Andriy Chudinov.

Bahrain forces overrun protest camp, 6 dead

Manama, March 16
Backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, the army and riot police today cracked down on anti-government protesters driving them out from a landmark square in the heart of Bahrain capital leaving six persons dead in firing and clashes, witnesses and officials said.

A day after King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa declared a three-month emergency and imposed martial law, hundreds of riot police swooped down on the protesters in an almost military-style assault at daybreak and overran the Pearl Square in the City Centre after a stiff scuffle with the protesters who have been camping there for four weeks. Officials said three policemen were among the dead during the clashes.

Shortly after the crackdown, Bahrain authorities announced a curfew from 4 pm to 4 am in Pearl Square and its financial district. The curfew will apply from today itself "until further notice," said an army spokesman said.

Rallies, marches, and sit-ins are also banned across the Gulf kingdom, he added. At least three protesters died after police fired on mainly Shia protesters, according to local reports and an official.

Bahrain state TV reported that two policemen died when they were hit by a vehicle after anti-government protesters were driven out. The Interior Ministry also said at least one other policeman was killed, but did not give the cause.

Bahrain is the first Gulf country to be thrown into turmoil by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world.

The Pearl Square had become a symbol of uprising by the majority Shia against the Sunni rulers of the tiny Gulf Kingdom. The Bahrain army action came two days after hundreds of Saudi-led foreign forces entered Bahrain as part of Gulf Cooperation Council initiative to protect government facilities. It was not immediately clear whether today's security clampdown involved Saudi troops. — PTI

Bahrain intervention unacceptable: Iran

Tehran: Iran's foreign ministry on Wednesday officially told Manama, Riyadh and Washington that military intervention by Gulf troops in Bahrain was "unacceptable," state television's website reported. Iran summoned the ambassador of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain's charge d'affaires to convey the message, the report said.

Libyan troops shell Ajdabiya

Model accuses Oz agency of racism

Berlusconi ‘had paid sex with teen 13 times’