IAEA head Grossi meets with local residents ahead of visit to wrecked Fukushima plant
Tokyo, JapanReuters International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi met residents on Wednesday to assuage concerns over the safety of Japan’s plan to release treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. In a major milestone for the decommissioning of the power plant, destroyed in the massive earthquake and […]
Japan to get crucial UN verdict for Fukushima water release
Tokyo, JapanReuters Japan is set to receive a final report from a UN watchdog on Tuesday that is widely expected to approve a plan for the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima plant to release radioactive water into the ocean over the next 30 to 40 years. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi begins a four-day visit to […]
Fukushima water release stokes fresh fears for fisherman
Shinchimachi, Japan Reuters A chilly dawn paints the sky magenta and purple as Japanese fisherman Haruo Ono unloads his catch of flounder, crab and sea bass from his boat at the small port of Shinchimachi. A third-generation fisherman, Ono, 71, has been putting to sea for half a century from Shinchimachi, 55 kilometres north of […]
World Vision Australia CEO Daniel Wordsworth finds a “tsunami of suffering” in visit to Romania-Ukraine border region
Melbourne, Australia A “tsunami of suffering” is how Daniel Wordsworth, CEO of World Vision Australia, described what he saw when visiting the Romanian-Ukraine border region recently where he bore witness to the arrival of some of the more than three million people who have now fled Ukraine. Following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine […]
As Fukushima memory fades, Japan’s nuclear power proponents hope for reset
Tokyo, Japan Reuters For the first time since a massive earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011 and killed nearly 16,000 people, Japan held no state memorial for the disaster anniversary on Friday. On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, some ruling party lawmakers […]
Tonga reconnects to world as submarine cable restored after tsunami
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Tonga was reconnected to the world on Tuesday following repairs to a submarine cable, officials said, a month after a volcanic eruption and tsunami cut communications to the remote Pacific island nation. “People on the main island will have access almost immediately,” Tonga Cable chief executive James Panuve told Reuters by telephone, after […]
Tonga goes into lockdown; COVID cases not at international aid port – official
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Two COVID-19 cases in wharf workers in tsunami-hit Tonga were at a different wharf to that used by foreign naval ships delivering aid, a Tongan official said, as the previously virus-free nation prepares to go into lockdown on Wednesday to stop infections. There have been fears an influx of international ships and planes […]
China, West rush tsunami relief supplies to tsunami-hit Tonga
Wellington, New ZealandReuters Chinese naval vessels carrying aid are set to arrive in Tonga on Thursday as Beijing shored up its disaster response efforts in the tsunami-hit Pacific nation following a coordinated response by its Western rivals. A navy vessel carrying drinking water and food will arrive from Fiji on Thursday, while two military aircraft […]
COVID cases reported on Australian aid vessel sailing to virus-free Tonga
Reuters About two dozen cases of COVID-19 have been recorded among the crew of an Australian warship expected to arrive in coronavirus-free Tonga on Wednesday to deliver humanitarian aid, Australian authorities said on Tuesday. Tonga, hit by a massive volcanic eruption and a tsunami on 15th January, has asked for aid to be delivered without human […]
Tonga struggles with ash, psychological trauma after eruption and tsunami
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Families have stopped children playing outside as Tonga struggles to deal with ash and the psychological fallout of last week’s volcanic eruption and tsunami, aid workers and residents said. Communication with the outside world remained difficult on Sunday, with few internet services, and outlying islands still cut off from the phone service. A […]