Foreigners, wary of nuclear risk, flee Tokyo

As Japan confronts a post-quake nuclear emergency, foreigners have begun a slow exodus from Tokyo, though some are maintaining a stiff upper lip. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

TOKYO - FEARING the possible risk of contamination as Japan confronts a post-quake nuclear emergency, foreigners have begun a slow exodus from Tokyo, though some are maintaining a stiff upper lip.

Several European nations have advised their citizens to consider leaving the Japanese capital following two blasts at a quake-damaged atomic power plant 250km to the north, sparking fears of a possible meltdown.

France went further, telling citizens to leave the Tokyo area 'for a few days' if they had no specific reason to stay and warning that if a reactor were to explode, radioactive steam could reach the city in a 'matter of hours'.

'A third of our staff has left,' Stefan Huber, the Austrian deputy head of the European Union delegation in Japan, told AFP.

He added that executives at several German companies such as Bosch, Daimler and BMW, as well as law offices, had evacuated their spouses and children, noting that in Tokyo's German community 'it's a veritable exodus'.

Marissa, a dual Australian-Italian national who has lived in Tokyo for the past six years with her husband and two young children, decided Sunday that she was not taking any more chances and the family flew to Hong Kong.

'We just thought it was probably better to leave at this point in time... I don't know about this nuclear issue, they don't seem to have quite got it under control yet,' she told AFP, asking to be identified only by her first name. -- AFP