AAP, Reuters & Yahoo!7 March 17, 2011, 11:12 am
Australian officials are searching morgues, hospitals and emergency shelters for 55 Australians still missing in devastated Japan.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd told the ABC it was encouraging that the number of Australians missing had dropped significantly.
But he added: "I'm just worried, and I'll be worried until we account for every last one of them."
He said there was some good news on Wednesday, when a consular team deep inside the disaster zone located a group of Australians.
"... we came across and found a group of I think either six, eight or 10 Australians and that just helps bring the number down," Mr Rudd said.
"Our teams on the ground are going through morgues, they're going through hospitals, they're going through emergency shelter facilities and just doing it literally by hand, because there's no other way to do it."
He repeated the government's advice that Australians whose presence in Japan was not essential should leave the country if they could.
One of the reasons for that was the extreme pressure infrastructure was under in the quake- and tsunami-ravaged country, potential health risks and ongoing aftershocks.
Mr Rudd also said the government was continuing to take advice on the nuclear threat posed by the severely damaged Fukushima nuclear plant from Australia's nuclear authority.
He said the US nuclear regulator had revised its position overnight and said the exclusion zone around the plant should be extended from 20-to-30km to more like 50-or-60km.
"We are now examining that ... and will make any appropriate adjustments to the travel advisory for Australians as well," he said.
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Snow piles more misery on Japan's devastated northeast
Kim Kyung Hoon and Chris Meyers, Reuters
March 16, 2011, 7:22 pm
SENDAI, Japan (Reuters) - - Heavy snow blanketed Japan's devastated northeast Wednesday, hindering rescue workers 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 some parts of Sendai city, firefighters and relief teams sifted through mounds of rubble, hoping to find any sign of life in water-logged wastelands where homes and factories once stood.
But, as they did 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 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 be drown in no time, without any chance to survive."
Japanese media said at least two people were pulled 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 meters," 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."
In Rikuzentakata, rescue workers used diggers to clear streets strewn with debris congealed by mud and now covered in snow. The fire department said more than 80 percent of the city was flooded, and the situation was likely to get worse due to the snowfall.
Officials estimate Friday's earthquake and tsunami have killed at least 10,000 people, 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 6 -- that have rattled the country.
"STRESSED OUT"
The meteorology agency said temperatures could drop as low as -2 Celsius (28 Fahrenheit) in Sendai Wednesday. Scores of people queued up in the snow for drinking water that arrived by truck. Relief workers rationed it at three litres a person.
"We hope that lasts long enough," a grim-faced volunteer said as he helped dole out the water.
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 of it," said Fuller.
"They need regular medication and proper care. A lot of the 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.
(Writing by Miral Fahmy; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
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