Radiation fears grow from stricken Japan nuclear plant

Further contamination of vegetables added to global anxiety on Wednesday at radiation from Japan's tsunami-smashed nuclear plant where engineers are struggling to cool reactors in the world's worst atomic crisis for 25 years.

Doctor Keiko Yamada screens a dog from Fukushima to test for signs of nuclear radiation at a health center in Yonezawa, northern Japan, 98 km (61 miles) from the Fukushima nuclear plant, March 22, 2011.

Above-safety radiation levels have now been discovered in 11 types of vegetables from the Fukushima area in north-east Japan where the six-reactor plant was battered by a March 11 earthquake and tidal wave, the government said.

Radiation has also been found in milk, tap water and the nearby Pacific sea, though Japan and experts insist levels are still far from dangerous to humans.

The Asian nation's worst crisis since World War Two has caused an estimated $250 billion damage, sent shock waves through global financial markets, and left nearly 23,000 people dead or missing, mostly from flattened coastal towns.

Quake-ravaged Japan digs mass graves

The towering waves that splintered thousands of Japanese homes and lives has forced the country to rethink one of its most sacred Buddhist practices: how it treats the dead.

Family members of victims of the earthquake and tsunami cry after burying their coffins at a temporary mass grave site in Higashi Matsushima, northern Japan March 23, 2011.

Desperate municipalities are digging mass graves, unthinkable in a nation where the deceased are usually cremated and their ashes placed in stone family tombs near Buddhist temples. Local regulations often prohibit burial of bodies.

The number of dead -- at 9,199 and expected to climb well over 20,000 -- has overwhelmed crematoriums whose incinerators cannot keep pace with the arriving bodies. A shortage of kerosene required to burn them means some cannot operate at all.

"We have many bodies found in seawater and badly damaged," said Kazuhiko Endo, an official in Kamaishi, where a mass burial

is planned on Friday for 150 unidentified people killed by the March 11 earthquake and tidal wave.

Japan sees quake damage around $310 bln, further hit from power cuts

The Japanese government on Wednesday estimated the direct damage from a deadly earthquake and tsunami that struck the country's northeast this month at 16-25 trillion yen ($185-308 billion), making it the world's costliest natural disaster.

Men carrying staves search for their missing relative in Yamamoto Town, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan, after an earthquake and tsunami struck the area, March 14, 2011. (REUTERS/Kyodo/Files)

It said the estimate covered damage to roads, homes, factories and other infrastructure and eclipses the $100 billion loss tally after the 1995 Kobe quake, until now the highest.

The figure does not include losses in economic activity from planned power outages or the broader impact of a crisis at a stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima, where work crews are still struggling to prevent further radiation leaks.

"The impact from the planned power outages is likely to be significant," Fumihira Nishizaki, director of macroeconomic analysis at the Cabinet Office told reporters.

Japan death toll likely to top 18,000

Japan's prime minister has described the March 11 quake and tsunami as the worst crisis since World War II.

Student tells of horror wave

Malaysian student Paul Tiong Lee Foong turned around and ran for safety when he saw the torrential waters of the Japanese tsunami wash over the harbour towards him.

The 24-year-old maritime engineering intern, who had been missing for some days, said he panicked like never before when he saw the wall of water approaching him.

Unforgettable experience: Tiong arriving at KLIA from Japan yesterday. With him is his sister, Elsie, who had come to pick him up.

Nuke reactor stabilising

The image released by the Japanese Ground Self-Defence Forces show a fire engine dousing reactor number 3 in an effort to cool it at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on Friday.

Lack of leadership worsens Japan's woes

The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and the resulting tsunami in Japan killed thousands. — AP picture

Nuclear plant may be buried

Survivors praying for victims of the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami at the devastated city of Miyako, northeastern Japan, yesterday.

As Japan entered its second week after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and 10m tsunami flattened coastal cities and killed thousands of people, the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl looked far from over. The nuclear disaster has triggered global alarm and reviews of safety at atomic power plants around the world.