Japan's nuclear grief

Japan's nuclear woes, caused by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami, are evolving into a worrying international crisis, threatening the lives of Japanese people and other nationals in the country. The international community should work together to help Japan prevent the situation from worsening.

At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, explosions and fire have ravaged four out of its six reactor buildings and the containment system around at least one of the reactors appears to have been breached. The dissemination of radioactive substances has drawn concern from surrounding countries.

As conditions at the stricken nuclear power plant deteriorate, it is clear that the crisis is greater than the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979, although not yet on the scale of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.