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By Qiu Wei in Niigata and Huang Jingjing in Beijing As a pall of uncertainty threatened to give way to a nuclear shroud at the crippled Fukushima plant, China redoubled efforts to evacuate its citizens. "The embassy and the consulate general in Niigata will use all means necessary to evacuate those located in earthquake-hit areas," the Chinese embassy in Tokyo said on its website. The embassy is to dispatch buses to Miyagi, Fukushima, Ibaraki and Iwate Prefectures to bring Chinese nationals to Narita International Airport and Niigata Airport for repatriation. According to the embassy, a total of 10,970 Chinese residents, or one-third of those 30,000 citizens living in the four prefectures, had been confirmed safe as of Tuesday. "We want to leave here as soon as possible, but plane tickets to China have sold out," Yue Jiuyu, an exchange student at Tohoku University in Sendai, told the Global Times. Yue, who has taken refuge at a gymnasium in Niigata, said a Chinese official from the Niigata consulate had stated a chartered plane would take him and other Chinese nationals home, but did not offer an exact date. "The Japanese provided towels and blankets in the gymnasium. The food is not bad. There is soup with every meal," Yue added. Deputy Consul-General Gong Xiaodong told the Global Times that 1,200 Chinese nationals, including 900 from Fukushima, had arrived in Niigata Tuesday onboard 25 buses. Up to 30 more buses will be sent out today to help ferry more people. "Japanese authorities are requiring radioactive checks on all people who had lived within 20 kilometers of the Fukushima plant. The Chinese who arrived today were living outside that perimeter and did not need to be examined," Gong added. Meanwhile, airports in China are preparing for an influx of Chinese returning home. "The airport is making every effort to ensure smooth flights to and from Japan," said Li, a member of staff with the inquiries desk of Beijing Capital International Airport, adding that the airport had handled 52 flights to and from Japan on Monday. |
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