Japan Shaken By The Earthquake After More Evacuations Urged

SENDAI, Japan - A strong earthquake shook northeastern Japan on Monday again that the government urged more people living near a nuclear plant halted by the tsunami to leave, citing concerns about the health risks of long-term radiation.

The 7.0 magnitude aftershock that some people trapped in collapsed houses, came just hours after residents dropped his head and wept in the ceremonies to mark one month since an earthquake and tsunami killed 25,000 people and set radiation leaks at nuclear plant annulment of their refrigeration systems.

"Even after a month, still cry when I watch the news," said Marina Seito, 19, a college student, who recalled that in a basement restaurant in Sendai when the original quake 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck on 11 March. The plates were dropped and parts of the roof collapsed around him.

Officials said Monday's reply has not affected operations at the complex flooded by the tsunami in Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear, where energy is cut, but quickly restored. The epicenter was just inside and about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Tokyo.

But a nuclear safety officer, said strong aftershocks repeated - another earthquake hit last Thursday - were reducing the work on the ground, and said that if one of them to generate a tsunami, the complex would be as vulnerable as 11 March.

"So far, no resistance of the tsunami has been added to the plant. At the moment, there is nothing we can do about it," said Hidehiko Nishiyama of nuclear weapons in Japan and Industrial Safety Agency.

With the drag crisis, residents of five communities, some of them over 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the plant were urged to evacuate within a month due to high levels of radiation, the Cabinet Secretary said Yukio Edan reporters. People living in one of the 12 miles (20 km) radius around the plant have been evacuated.

"This is not an emergency measure that people have to evacuate immediately," he said. "We chose this measure on the basis of the risks of long-term health."

Edan sounded a serious note, acknowledging that "the nuclear accident has not been stabilized" and that "we can not deny the possibility that the situation could worsen."

The last earthquake frightened the people once more in a disaster tired of northeastern Japan. Customers in a large electronics store in Sendai screamed and ran and grabbed the mothers to their children.

In Iwaki, a city near the epicenter of the quake, three houses collapsed and up to seven people believed trapped inside. Two of them were rescued later, city fire department spokesman said Takumi Namoto. His condition, and the fate of others is not immediately known.

Japanese officials said the quake had a magnitude of 7.0, but the U.S. Geological Survey said measured 6.6.

With workers still far from bringing the plant in Fukushima Dai-ichi under control, the bodies of thousands of tsunami victims has not yet been found and more than 150,000 people living in shelters, on Monday there was little time for reflection on Japan's worst disaster since the Second World War.

People in the affected cities met to the ceremonies in hours 2:46, the exact time the earthquake the previous month.

"My chest has been torn by the suffering and pain that this disaster has caused people in our prefecture," said Yuhei Sato, the governor of Fukushima, who saw their coastal areas devastated by the tsunami and is home to the plant damaged in the center of the nuclear crisis. "I have no words to express my sorrow."

In a neighborhood devastated the coast of the town of Natori, three dozen firefighters and soldiers took off their hats and helmets, and they shook hands on a small hill that has become a monument to the dead. Previously, four monks in pointy hats rang a bell of prayer should be chanted for the dead.

The noise of construction equipment noise stopped briefly as crane operators were out of their cars and head down.

In the industrial city of Kamaishi, Iwate Governor Takuya Tasso was a moment of commemoration as a siren sounded loud through a high school gym is used as a shelter. He bowed while people who have lived there since the tsunami makeshift futon knelt, bowed his head and clasped hands.

school students return to classes Tuesday despite 129 people living in the gym. Some, like 16 years old, Keisuke Shirato, wearing his baseball uniform for Monday's ceremony. Shirato family was not affected by the tsunami, but half of his comrades lost their homes.

"A new school year begins tomorrow," Shirato said. "I hope this will help us give hope to the people and allow them to look toward a new beginning."

The earthquake and tsunami flattened communities along hundreds of kilometers (miles) of coastline, causing what the government estimates could be as much as 310 billion U.S. dollars in damages. Some 250,000 are without power, although some of them because of the last two earthquakes Monday and Thursday.

Adding to the misery is the radiation spewing from the complex of Dai-ichi Fukushima, 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. The 70,000 to 80,000 people living within 12 miles (20 kilometers) of the plant should stay away from their homes indefinitely.

"We have no future plans. We can not even begin to think about it because we do not know how long or how long they have to stay in these shelters," said Atsushi Yanai, a construction worker 55 years of age. The tsunami spared their house, but he has to live in a shelter anyway because it is in the evacuation zone.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., said its president, Masataka Shimizu, went to Fukushima Prefecture Monday to relay his thanks and apologies. Shimizu recently spent eight days in the hospital with dizziness and high blood pressure, but has since returned to work.

Shimizu told reporters in Fukushima that people living near the plant are "suffering both physically and mentally due to radiation leakage accident nuclear

"We apologize for this," he said.

TEPCO's headquarters in Tokyo, hundreds of employees wished for a moment of silence at 2:46.

Government of Japan marked the period of one month, placing an advertisement in newspapers in China, South Korea, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and the United States - a letter from Prime Minister Naoto Kan thanking people for the great support following the tsunami. The Red Cross said it has collected only 107 million U.S. dollars (9.1 billion yen) from abroad.

Khan described the outpouring of "Kizuna", the bond of friendship.

"We deeply appreciate the kizuna our friends around the world have shown and I want to thank all the nations, entities, and you personally, from the bottom of my heart."