Japan Update; As of 17:00, 25/March, TOKYO

News Updates shared by Seki Satoko, Tokyo, Japan

Japan hit by radiation-tainted water, but Tokyo conditions improve, TOKYO

Water with radiation levels considered to be unsafe for infants to drink has been found at several purification plants outside of Tokyo, local officials said by early Friday, while Japanese authorities have been trying hard to increase the supply of bottled water in light of the drawn-out crisis at a quake-hit nuclear power plant.

The city of Hitachi in Ibaraki Prefecture said it detected traces of radioactive iodine more than twice the stipulated safe limit for infants — 100 becquerels per 1 kilogram — in water taken from a purification plant on Wednesday.

The city said levels of iodine-131 rose to 298 becquerels per 1 kg of water at the plant. The amount detected is almost on par with the 300-becquerel limit for people other than infants.

The announcements came just a day after the Tokyo metropolitan government said it detected 210 becquerels of radioactive iodine on Tuesday at a water purification plant and advised that infants in its 23 wards and five cities — Musashino, Mitaka, Machida, Tama and Inagi — not be given tap water, just in case.

But its survey conducted Thursday showed that the levels dropped to 79 becquerels at the purification plant in question, located in the Kanamachi district of Katsushika Ward, Tokyo officials said.

Following the latest findings, the Tokyo officials said it will no longer warn against consumption of tap water in the metropolitan area.

Still, people in the capital area — located about 220 kilometers from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant — and elsewhere continued to buy up limited supplies of bottled water from shops and vending machines.

An Ito-Yokado supermarket in Matsudo gave preference to consumers with documents showing they have children under 1 year old to purchase water. Parents stood in a long line but all the bottled water prepared was sold out in one hour.

Under such circumstance, the metropolitan government on Thursday started distributing a total of 240,000 bottles of water, each containing 550 milliliters, to families with infants. The officials said three bottles will be given per infant.

2 weeks pass since disaster, death toll tops 10,000

Two weeks after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, around 240,000 people were still sheltering in some 1,900 evacuation centers as of Friday while the official death toll topped 10,000.

Damage to houses and roads is estimated to total between 16 trillion to 25 trillion yen, while radiation leaks at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant have caused widespread anxiety.

According to the National Police Agency, more than 27,000 people were confirmed dead or remain unaccounted for as of noon — 10,035 deaths and 17,443 missing.