Nepal has started the process of evacuating its citizens from areas around the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan where the radiation has reached harmful levels.
The Nepali mission in Tokyo is working to evacuate Nepalis from harm’s way around the failed nuclear plant, said Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai. The situation is becoming worse after a third explosion at the nuclear facility which appears to have compromised the nuclear reactor’s containment system putting thousands of people nearby at risk. So far, no Nepali national has been exposed to the radiation.
Meanwhile, a rescue team dispatched on Tuesday from Kathmandu will coordinate with the Nepali community in Japan to assist victims of the quake and tsunami that struck in tandem. The Nepal Government on Monday decided to dispatch a 15-member team along with 5,000 blankets to assist in the evacuation rush. The Japan-based Nepali community has also started to build awareness on how to save people from the radiation. More Nepali nationals, who went missing in Sendai and Okinawa provinces, have established contact with their country’s mission.
“Four separate teams have been formed in Japan itself at the initiative of the Nepali mission in Tokyo which will closely work with the rescue team that coming from Nepal. These three committees will coordinate, assist and will help by providing translator to the Nepali team,” a statement issued by the Nepali mission in Japan said. These four teams will start working from Wednesday. Some Nepali nationals have also started returning to Nepal.
Meanwhile the local Nepali community in Japan has started collecting funds and logistic to the support quake and tsunami victims. “Those collected money and logistic will be distributed to the disaster hit areas,” the release said. As of now more than 1.6 million Japanese yen have collected so far.
