Radiation anxiety sparks panic buying in Tokyo

TOKYO—Shops across Tokyo began rationing goods—milk, toilet paper, rice and water—on Thursday as a run on bottled water coupled with delivery disruptions left shelves bare nearly two weeks after a devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Faced with a looming water crisis, Japanese officials said they were considering a plan to import bottled water.

One of the first to offer help was Philippine Airlines, which planned to airlift a donation of 27 tons, or 70,000 bottles, of water, according to Reuters. The cargo is the first batch of a total 700,000 bottles of 350 ml each donated by PAL’s sister company, Asia Brewery Inc.

Anxiety over food and water remained high a day after Tokyo officials reported that radioactive iodine in the capital’s tap water measured more than twice the level considered safe for babies.

Radiation has been leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station, 220 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, since it was struck by the March 11 quake and engulfed by the ensuing tsunami. Feverish efforts to get the plant’s crucial cooling system back in operation have been beset by explosions, fire and radiation scares.

The No. 1 and No. 4 reactors at the plant gave off white smoke on Thursday, but officials said this was not interrupting the work of trying to repair the facilities.

3 workers injured

Shortly after noon, however, three workers suffered radiation burns on their legs while they were dragging an electrical cable through contaminated water at Reactor No. 3.

The three workers were rushed to the hospital. More than two dozen people have been injured trying to bring the Fukushima plant under control.

Workers have managed to restore lighting in the central control room of the No. 1 reactor, an important step toward restarting the cooling system.

The latest developments highlight the challenges that Japan faces after a 9.0-magnitude quake off Sendai triggered a massive tsunami in northeastern Japan.

An estimated 26,000 people have been officially listed as dead or missing, and hundreds of thousands have been left homeless as officials scrambled to avert a major nuclear crisis.

11 kinds of vegetables

Radiation has seeped into raw milk, seawater and 11 kinds of vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower and turnips, grown in areas around the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Experts say the radioactive iodine found in Tokyo’s water supply is short-lived, with a half-life of eight days—the length of time it takes for half of it to break down harmlessly.

Authorities, however, recommended that infants not drink the contaminated tap water as they are particularly vulnerable to radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano pleaded for calm. Officials urged residents to avoid panicked stockpiling, sending workers to distribute 240,000 bottles—enough for three small bottles of water for each of the 80,000 babies less than a year old.

That didn’t stop Reiko Matsumoto, mother of 5-year-old Reina, from rushing to a nearby store to stock up.

“The first thought was that I need to buy bottles of water,” the Tokyo real estate agent said. “I also don’t know whether I can let her take a bath.”

More contamination

New readings showed Tokyo’s tap water was back to safe levels on Thursday, but the relief was tempered by elevated levels of the cancer-linked isotope in two neighboring prefectures: Chiba and Saitama.

Tap water in Kawaguchi City in Saitama north of Tokyo contained 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine—well above the 100 becquerels considered safe for babies but below the 300-becquerel level for adults, said health ministry official Shogo Misawa.

In Chiba prefecture, the water tested high for radiation in two separate areas, said water safety official Kyoji Narita. The government there warned families in 11 cities in Chiba not to feed infants tap water.

“The high level of iodine was due to the nuclear disaster,” Narita said. “There is no question about it.”

Radiation levels also tested dangerously high at Hitachi in Ibaraki prefecture, about 120 km south of the Fukushima plant, said city water official Toshifumi Suzuk. Officials were distributing bottled water, he said.

The limits refer to sustained consumption rates, and officials said parents should stop using tap water for baby formula but that it was no problem for infants to consume small amounts.

Buying limits

Maruetsu supermarket in central Tokyo sought to impose buying limits on specific items to prevent hoarding: only one carton of milk per family, one 5-kilogram bag of rice, one package of toilet paper, one pack of diapers, signs said. Similar notices at some drugstores told women they could only purchase two feminine hygiene items at a time.

Kayoko Kano, a spokesperson at Maruetsu headquarters, acknowledged that the earthquake and tsunami resulted in delays of some products.

Digging for root crops

A spokesperson for Procter & Gamble Japan said its plant was fully operational but that rolling blackouts in Tokyo may be affecting distribution.

“Consumers are nervous, and they may be buying up supplies,” Noriyuki Endo added.

Hardship continued in the frigid, tsunami-struck northeast. Farmer Sumiko Matsuno went out to her fields in Fukushima and dug up all the vegetables she could on Thursday—not to sell but to eat.

“If it’s in the ground, it’s still safe,” she said. “The leafy ones are no good anymore. We are digging up all our carrots and onions as fast as we can.”

Matsuno, 65, said she was worried about the future. “If this goes on, it is going to really hurt us.”

Some 660,000 households in the northeast still do not have water, and electricity has not been restored to some 209,000 homes.

Most complex mission

More than 19,000 US Marines and sailors, with 20 ships and 140 aircraft, have delivered relief supplies, surveyed ports, conducted aerial searches and surveys and provided support to rescuers.

“This is without a doubt the most complex humanitarian mission ever conducted,” Vice Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, commander of the US 7th Fleet, said in a statement on Thursday.

“It is not one disaster, but three: an earthquake, a tsunami, and a crisis at a nuclear power plant, made even more complicated by heavy weather that hampers visibility,” he added.

Damage is estimated at $309 billion, making it the most costly natural disaster on record. Reports from Associated Press, New York Times News Service and Reuters