Fire Service USAR Japan update

The New Zealand Fire Service USAR team members continue to remain focused on their task but have so far found no survivors of the devastating tsunami in Northern Japan.

The team of 48 is working alongside Japanese civil defence workers and an Australian USAR team as they scour the towering piles of wreckage that was once the coastal town on Minamisanriku

Team leader and New Zealand Fire Service Special Operations manager, Jim Stuart-Black said “We are working in a scene of utter devastation, among the debris of many thousands of timber structures and destroyed vehicles. It is painstaking and careful work and we are all committed to the task.”

He said the team continues to monitor radiation levels following the damage done to the nuclear power stations south of Minamisanriku and there has been no sign of any increase beyond the normal background levels.

There was a minor incident yesterday when tests showed slightly elevated levels of radiation among some of the New Zealand and Australian team members who were on board a helicopter which was forced to land at Fukushima airport when the blades began to ice up. The group continued their journey by car. They were all checked for exposure when they arrived back at their base.

“The levels are not high and we have been reassured that there is no danger to those involved,” said Jim Stuart-Black.

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