Japan to Evacuate More Towns

CNN reports:

Japan's government Monday called for evacuations for several towns beyond the danger zone already declared around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, warning that residents could receive high doses of radiation over the coming months.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the municipalities are likely to see long-term radiation levels that exceed international safety standards, and he warned that the month-old crisis at Fukushima Daiichi was not yet over.

"Things are relatively more stable, and things are stabilizing," he said. "However, we need to be ready for the possibility that things may turn for the worse."

And minutes after he spoke, a fresh earthquake rattled the country, forcing workers to evacuate the plant and knocking out power to the three damaged reactors for about 40 minutes, the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, reported. The magnitude 6.6 tremor came a month to the day after the magnitude 9 quake and tsunami that knocked out the plant's cooling systems and followed one of the same size Thursday night.

Edano said residents of five towns and cities around the plant -- Katsuo, Kawamata, Namie, Iitate and parts of Minami Soma -- should evacuate within a month if they have not already done so. Parts of Namie and Minami Soma are already within the 20-km (12.5-mile) evacuation radius drawn in the first days of the accident, while Iitate, Kawamata and Katsuo are beyond the 20- to 30-km belt in which residents have been told to stay indoors.

"This policy does not require immediate evacuation right away, but we take the long-term perspective, considering the long-term effect of radiation on your health," Edano told reporters.