Japan quake deaths, missing exceed 11,000 (A Brief News)

The number of dead and missing from Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan has exceeded 11,000. This is the first time since World War Two that Japan has recorded so many victims in a natural disaster. Police say 3,676 deaths have been confirmed so far, and 7,558 people remain unaccounted name. In Miyagi Prefecture, 1,816 deaths have been confirmed, and 2,011 people remain missing. In Minami-sanriku Town, roughly 1,000 bodies have been discovered. Around 8,000 people, or nearly half the town's population, are missing.
Police have found several hundred bodies on the beaches of the Oshika Peninsula. In Onagawa Town on the peninsula, about 5,000 people, or half the population, remain unaccounted for. I wate Prefecture has 1,296 confirmed deaths and 3,318 missing. A total of 373 deaths have been confirmed in the cities of Rikuzen-takata and Ofunato. Rikuzen-takata has 1,282 missing. Fukushima Prefecture has confirmed 509 deaths and 2,220 missing. In Namie Town, the whereabouts of around 900 residents remain unknown.

Govt asked about 500 missing foreigners

Japan's Foreign Ministry has received inquiries about 500 foreign nationals missing since Friday's earthquake. The ministry said on Wednesday it is asking municipal officials, police, and fire departments in the damaged areas for any information they may have on the whereabouts of foreign residents. The ministry also noted that some countries are urging their citizens to leave Japan or refrain from visiting due to the series of nuclear accidents in the disaster zone. The ministry said it had asked these countries to accurately relay the information provided by the Japanese government about the earthquake and nuclear accidents, and respond calmly to the situation.

Another fire at No.4 reactor

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPC) said early on Wednesday that a fire had broken out at one of the reactor buildings at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The same building was the scene of a fire the day before.
The utility says a worker spotted flames at around 5:45 AM near the northwestern corner of the building that houses the No. 4 reactor. It says, however, that the flames could not be confirmed half an hour later from several dozen meters away. The fire broke out at around the same spot in the building as Tuesday's fire, where an instrument that adjusts the speed of a pump sending water to the reactor is located.
The company says workers cannot get any closer to the spot because the radiation level is higher there. It says Tuesday's fire went out on its own, and that its cause is unclear. The No. 4 Reactor was undergoing checks at the time of the quake, and was not operating. But the utility company has been having trouble cooling down a storage pool for spent nuclear fuel rods inside the building.

S.Korea to provide boric acid to Japan

The South Korean government will provide Japan with boric acid to help avoid criticality at the quake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. South Korea's Ministry of Knowledge Economy said on Wednesday that it has decided to provide 53 tons of boric acid, following the request made by Japan.
That amount would include almost all the substance available in South Korea, excepting a quantity for domestic use. South Korea will send one kilogram of sample boric acid to Japan on Wednesday, to check if the South Korea variety can also be used at the Japanese power plant.

Toyota cuts operations in N. America

Toyota Motor will partly suspend production at its 14 factories in North America following the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan. Toyota has halted operations at all of its factories in Japan due to damage at the maker's subsidiary parts and assembly plants in disaster-hit areas. Toyota's New York office said on Tuesday that due to difficulty in securing parts from Japan, the firm will temporarily halt weekday overtime production and Saturday operations. Toyota's global output could be affected if stoppage of parts production in Japan continues for a long time.

GE to send power generators to Japan

The US-based General Electric Company (GE), will send 10 gas turbine generators to Japan to help replace power generating capacity lost when nuclear reactors were damaged in Friday's mega-quake. GE said on Tuesday it was sending the generators on request from Tokyo Electric Power Company, which is struggling with a nuclear crisis at its Daiichi plant in Fukushima Prefecture. GE manufactured 2 of the plant's 6 reactors. GE said 3 of the 10 gas turbine generators have been moved to Florida ahead of being flown to Japan. The company said it is also offering technological assistance to Japan through a joint venture set up with Japanese electronics-maker Hitachi.

World pays tribute to tsunami victims

People around the world are paying tribute to victims of Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
The UN General Assembly held a moment of silence for the victims at the opening of its meeting on Tuesday. Assembly president Joseph Diess expressed profound sympathies, and said international society must unite in supporting Japan. Foreign delegates were seen offering condolences to the Japanese delegation. In Vienna, Austria, some 500 people gathered before the parliament building to pay tribute to the victims in Japan, following calls for a vigil over the internet and text messaging.Participants lit candles and prayed for the victims. A student who took part said she wanted to do something for the Japanese people. She said she hopes Japan bounces back from the disaster soon.

European airlines avoid Japan's NaritaAirport

Some European airlines are re-routing flights to Narita Airport near Tokyo to other airports in Japan, apparently out of concern about radiation leaks from the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been dealing with a series of accidents since last Friday's earthquake and tsumami. On Tuesday, Germany's Lufthansa started routing its flight from Frankfurt to land at Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya. It also changed its Munich flight to Kansai International Airport in western Japan. The company plans to continue this measure until Sunday.
Air France has added a stopover at South Korea's Incheon airport to its 2 daily direct flights from Paris to Narita, calling it a "safety measure." The airline is also changing crew at Incheon apparently to avoid having them stay at Narita. The head of France's nuclear safety authority, Andre-Claude Lacoste, has said the accident at Japan's nuclear power plant could be classified as a level 6, the second highest on an international scale of one to 7. This exceeds the level of the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the United States.