News / Asia

Three Disasters Slow Japan Cleanup

VOA Asia Correspondent Steve Herman chats with VOA web followers on Twitter about Japan's struggle to recover from an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis

A month following the quake and tsunami much of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture still lies in ruin.
A month following the quake and tsunami much of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture still lies in ruin.
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Reflecting on his coverage of Japan's historic three-pronged disaster, VOA Asia Correspondent Steve Herman says he was surprised to see so little progress in the areas worst hit by last month's 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami.

“There's been barely [a] dent made in [the] cleanup of [the] rubble. It's vast and not yet priority,” Herman said Wednesday during a live conversation on Twitter with VOA followers from around the world.

Steve was one of two American reporters to first visit the grounds of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where the combined impact of the earthquake and tsunami caused a nuclear crisis and the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents.

Read Steve’s comments and insights from a transcript of TweetChat below.

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