Aid continues to reach Japan, evacuations go on
0 
As the aid work gets underway, evacuation of foreign citizens in the badly affected regions in Japan is also going on smoothly.
Gong Xiaodong, an official with the Chinese General Consulate in Niigata, told Xinhua on Wednesday that more than 3,000 Chinese nationals have been evacuated to Niigata from the three worst hit prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate.
Gong said that the consulate has provided shelter and food to the Chinese and will also help them return home if they wish to.
In the mean time, Chinese airlines are putting on additional flights to Japan to evacuate citizens from the areas worst hit by last week's earthquake and tsunami and those affected by nuclear leakages.
China Eastern Airlines will send an additional Airbus 340-300 to Niigata on Wednesday, where about 1,500 Chinese nationals are waiting to return to China. China Southern Airlines said it has added four flights and is expected to carry 4,491 Chinese back from Japan.
China's flagship carrier Air China has said Tuesday that it currently operates 30 flights daily, with more than 7,000 seats, between China and Japan.
The Vietnam News Agency said that the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan evacuated 41 Vietnamese citizens and a German from Sendai city in Miyagi prefecture to Tokyo on Wednesday, adding that all the 42 people were given shelter at a pagoda in the capital city.
Another team, which went to Morioka city in Iwate prefecture, was expected to return to Tokyo late Wednesday with 23 evacuees, mostly students and trainees.
A third mission picked up 18 Vietnamese people in Fukushima prefecture and is making efforts to contact other Vietnamese students and trainees there, the report said.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka on Wednesday also decided to increase flights between the country and Japan to bring back concerned nationals, as more Sri Lankans have asked to return following the blasts in Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant. The first of the extra flights was to leave Tokyo's Narita airport on Thursday.
Around 20,000 Sri Lankans are believed to be living in Japan.
Also on Wednesday, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez said that the government would repatriate the 1,852 Spanish nationals currently living in Japan if needed.
"We are not going to withhold any resources or efforts to ensure that our nationals are safe. We will put all of our resources that are necessary at their disposition," Jimenez said from Aman, where she is currently on a short tour of the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Ukraine also said Wednesday that it will send a plane to evacuate its citizens from quake-hit Japan.
Go to Forum >>0 Comments