Nation & World

Workers at Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power station successfully completed the first day of a delicate operation to remove radioactive fuel rods from a reactor damaged in the March 2011 tsunami.

The fuel rods were removed from the Unit 4 reactor, which was offline at the time the tsunami smashed into the plant, overwhelming its backup systems. Although Unit 4 was spared the fate of three other reactors that melted down, a fire in its containment building weakened the structure.

Tokyo Electric, or TEPCO, the utility that operates Fukushima, has reinforced the Unit 4 containment structure, but NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel says it’s continued to be a big worry.

“It had more than 1,500 bundles of nuclear fuel being stored in a pool above the reactor core. Those bundles are a big threat at the plant: People worry that if there’s another earthquake or something else happens, they might release more radioactivity,” he tells All Things Considered.

TEPCO plans to remove unused fuel rods first and then the spent fuel. According to The Guardian, 1,331 spent rods and 202 unused rods will be removed when the operation is complete.

“People move these fuel bundles around all the time during normal operations at a nuclear power plant,” says Brumfiel. “But this is not a normal situation — this is a plant that’s been heavily damaged. There’s also a fear that one of these casks might get dropped, say during an earthquake.”

To get the fuel rods into a more secure location, says Brumfiel, TEPCO workers are using a crane to lift them from their containment pool and then deposit them into a heavy cask.

“They … lift the cask out of the pool and then carry it to another location onsite where it can be stored more safely,” Brumfiel says.

“It’s a slow process that will take more than a year, and there are still three other reactors to go,” he says.

And then there are the three reactors that melted down, which will pose an even greater challenge.

“They have fuel not just in the pools above the reactors, but in the cores themselves. That fuel is melted down and it’s going to take a very, very long time to even figure out how to get that fuel out,” he says. “Then, on top of it all, the site is full of radioactive water and that continues to be a problem.”

(We updated at 10:40 a.m. ET to include the latest official death toll of more than 2,300.)

He’s spoken with many of those people and they seem to be “ordinary folks who would not do such things in ordinary times,” Anthony told host Steve Inskeep. “But they are doing such things to stay alive.”

In Tacloban, he added, a fight for “sheer survival” is under way as people in the city of more than 220,000 search for food, water and other essentials. As of Wednesday, there weren’t enough government troops in the area to control things.

Anthony’s report from the scene underscores this headline from The New York Times: “Mayor of Typhoon-Ravaged City Urges Residents to Flee.” Here’s how the Times starts its story:

“TACLOBAN, the Philippines — The mayor of this typhoon-ravaged city urged residents on Wednesday afternoon to flee to other cities and find shelter there with relatives if they could, saying that the local authorities were struggling to provide enough food and water and faced difficulties in maintaining law and order.”

Euro News has posted some video of looting at a store in Tacloban and writes that “desperation, thirst, hunger and opportunism are said to be provoking anarchy.

It was last Friday when Haiyan, known as Yolanda in the Philippines, made landfall. It was packing winds that sometimes reached or exceeded 200 mph. As of late Wednesday morning in the U.S., the official death toll from the Philippines government stood at more than 2,300 (President Benigno Aquino III has said the final toll is likely to be between 2,000 and 2,500). More than 660,000 are thought to have been forced from their homes. As many as 9.8 million people, U.N. officials say, were affected by the storm.

While the government, international aid groups and foreign militaries that have rushed to the affected area are having trouble getting to the victims because of blocked roads, the U.S. commander on the scene told NPR early Wednesday that American assistance has quickly ramped up.

Marine Brig. Gen. Paul Kennedy said that “this disaster is 5 days old for the people of the Philippines, [but] we’ve effectively only had U.S. military operations for the last 72 hours. And in 72 hours we’ve gone from essentially a cold start — I flew in here with 6 people and a suitcase staff — to running … aircraft. We moved 65 tons of humanitarian assistance supplies yesterday. That’s a lot of stuff. We’ll do the same today.”

NPR’s coverage of the typhoon is collected here. For another view of how desperate things are in some places, see our post from Tuesday:

After Typhoon Tore Through, People ‘Were Left On Their Own’

The Philippines is just now starting to assess the damage caused by the landfall of one of the most powerful tropical cyclones in recorded history.

As Mark reported, Typhoon Haiyan roared over the Philippines with top sustained winds at nearly 200 mph.

One of the hardest hit areas appears to be Tacloban City, which faced a 40-foot storm surge. The New York Times, quoting Capt. John Andrews, deputy director general of the civil aviation authority, reports that at least 100 cadavers were seen on the streets. The country’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council puts the number of dead at 138.

There are reports of many more deaths across the country. For now, we’ll stay away from numbers, but it’s a pretty safe bet to say that this will be a mass casualty event.

The Times adds:

“As rescuers make their way to isolated areas and communications are restored, officials worried that the death toll could rise significantly. Damage was believed to have been extensive, in part because many structures in poorer regions are not well built.

“As the typhoon barreled toward Vietnam, where it is expected to hit landfall Sunday morning, roughly 20,000 people were evacuated from Da Nang, a city of nearly 1 million, state media reported. The government mobilized nearly 450,000 soldiers and militia members to deal with the storm, which is expected to weaken slightly as it hits Vietnam.

“By some accounts the typhoon, named Haiyan, ranked among the world’s strongest. But because it moved across the Philippines so rapidly and hundreds of thousands were evacuated, officials were hoping that the death toll would be limited. Experts say that is because it did not linger long enough to deluge the islands with rain that has caused the widespread flooding and mudslides that have in the past lead to death tolls in the thousands.”

USA Today paints a grim picture of near-total destruction. There are reports of “widespread power outages, flash flood, landslides and scores of buildings that were torn apart.” The airport terminal in Tacloban, reports the paper, was ruined by the storm surge. USA Today adds:

“‘We expect the level of destruction caused by Typhoon Haiyan to be extensive and devastating, and sadly we fear that many lives will be lost,’ said Anna Lindenfors, Philippines director of Save the Children.

“‘With this magnitude we know that the destruction is overwhelming,’ said Emma Amores, who is waiting outside Villamor Airbase in Manila, where a C-130 is loading relief supplies and personnel heading to hard-hit Tacloban. ‘From the images we saw on TV, it’s highly likely our houses are gone. We just want to know that the family are all safe.'”

Reuters has put together a video of early images from the Philippines:

s more news comes out of the area, we’re update this post.

Update at 3:55 p.m. ET. Severe Destruction:

It is now almost 5 a.m. in Tacloban City, which means we may start getting some more news as day breaks. Meanwhile, CNN’s Andrew Stevens has made his way to Tacloban and he reports “severe destruction.

He says the entire waterfront was destroyed by a fast-moving storm surge. He said he saw bodies floating in the water. And has only now started seeing military helicopters over the city.

“The city is still pretty much cut off,” Stevens reported. “Food and water are running out.

The head of the U.N. Disaster Coordination Team put it in starker terms.

“The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami,” Sebastian Rhodes Stampa said.

One bright spot CNN’s Stevens said is that many in Tacloban, which has a population of more than 200,000, were told to evacuate.

Update at 9:09 a.m. ET. 138 Dead:

According to the Philippines’ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, as of a few hours ago, 138 people were reported dead and 4.2 million people were affected.

Update at 8:17 a.m. ET. Relief Efforts Will Be Massive:

Weekend Edition Saturday spoke to Nichola Jones, a spokesperson for the International Red Cross currently in Cebu Island. She said that the Red Cross expects tens of thousands of homes to be damaged and the “scale of the relief efforts will be massive.”

To put it into perspective: Jones said the hurricane pummeled an area with a total population of 3.2 million. What’s more, Bacolod, which was struck by the typhoon, was also hit by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake back in October.

“It’s been a very difficult time for people here,” Sebastian Rhodes Stampa said after arriving.

Meteorologists weren’t holding back Friday after watching in amazement as Typhoon Haiyan roared over the Philippines with pounding rain and top sustained winds approaching 200 mph as it neared the coast.

It is “the strongest tropical cyclone on record” that’s made landfall, writes Jeff Masters at Wunderground.

Since we last posted about the storm Thursday evening, there’s been word that as Haiyan slammed the islands it caused landslides, knocked out power and has led to the deaths of at least four people, The Associated Press reports.

That death toll is expected to rise. According to the AP, “close to 720,000 people had been evacuated from towns and villages in the typhoon’s path across the central Philippines, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said.” Getting word about what’s happening is going to take some time:

“Telephone lines appeared down as it was difficult to get through to the landfall site 405 miles southeast of Manila where Typhoon Haiyan … slammed into the southern tip of Samar island before barreling on to Leyte Island.”

Correspondent Simone Orendain, who is in Manila, tells our Newscast Desk that authorities are “working with private radio groups to get word” about the extent of the damage so far and any more deaths.

The good news is that Haiyan is now back over water, allowing authorities to lower their public warnings — a sign that the worst is over.

The BBC is live blogging about Haiyan here.