Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, October 1, 1999
World
Strong earthquake hits southern Mexico; seven dead, several injured
The Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — A strong earthquake rocked southern Mexico yesterday, toppling church towers and old homes in Oaxaca and shaking buildings in the capital. At least seven people were killed and an unknown number injured.
The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.5, and it was centered 275 miles southeast of Mexico City, the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said. It hit at about 11:30 a.m.
"The world is coming to an end!" a secretary screamed as she and dozens of others ran out of the state legislature building after the 11:30 a.m. quake.
Moderate damage was reported in Oaxaca City, the state capital, where church steeples and many homes collapsed.
Gov. Jose Murat Casab said seven people died in his state, the government news agency Notimex reported. Two deaths occurred when a doorway collapsed at a store in Oaxaca City, crushing a man and a woman who had taken refuge underneath. Another man was crushed by debris while fleeing from his office.
Two more women died in the small village of Santo Domingo Teojomulco and one in San Jose del Progreso. Also a 12-year-old girl in Tuxtepec died of a heart attack that was attributed to the quake, Notimex reported.
Only minor damage was reported in Huatulco, a popular tourist resort near the enicenter.
And in the nearby resort of Puerto Escondido, 15 buildings were damaged and electricity was cut. City Hall representative Norma Alquitra said no one was hurt.
About 300 houses were badly damaged in the state, Murat Casab said.
Federal environmental officials said water and sewage treatment plants were damaged in 95 percent of Oaxaca state. Notimed reporte
In Mexico City, thousands of people rushed out of offices and gathered along Reforma Avenue and other major thoroughfares in the capital, staring at skyscrapers that were visibly moving. Shattered glass was seen falling from some buildings.
The quake was felt as far south as Chiapas state, 500 miles southeast of Mexico City. It bounced some cars onto sidewalks along Mexico City roads.
Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities with nearly 20 million residents in the metro area, last suffered a major quake on Sept. 19, 1985 when an 8.1-magnitude quake struck and killed at least 9,500 people.
A magnitude-6.7 quake on June 15 in a sparsely populated mountain area 165 miles southwest of Mexico City killed at least 17 people and injured nearly 200. More than 7,700 homes were damaged or destroyed, mostly in Oaxaca and Puebla states.
Leak contaminates Japanese workers
Thousands ordered to stay at home
The Associated Press
TOKYO—A major leak at a uranium-processing plant in northeastern Japan yesterday sent radiation levels skyrocketing and contaminated dozens of workers, sending at least three to the hospital.
The nuclear reaction, which prompted authorities to order 310,000 residents to remain in their homes, continued throughout the day. Workers began removing water from the cooling equipment around the tank to stop it, said Eiichiro Watanbe, a science and Technology Agency.
"A major accident resulting in a radioactive leak has happened," said Koji Kitani, president of JCO Co., the
Company officials said they thought that while radioactivity was released into the atmosphere, the radioactive material itself remained contained.
private company that operates the plant. "We apologize from the bottom of our hearts."
Hiromu Nonaka, the top government representative, called the accident unprecedented, and officials said no previous Japanese accident had left workers so seriously injured. About 150 people were evacuated from the area around the plant in the town of Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo.
In Washington, President Clinton expressed deep concern and said the United States would do whatever it possibly could.
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said the United States and Russia were prepared to send a joint team of nuclear experts to Japan. He said the United
Jason Williams/KANSAN
States was awaiting a formal request for help from Japan.
Radiation levels around the plant were 10,000 times higher than normal at
one point, and about 10 times more than normal 11/4 miles from the accident.
said Tatsuo Shimada, a state official.
The exposed workers initially were taken to a local hospital. They were later flown to a medical center specializing in radiation sickness.
Two of the workers — Hisashi Ouchi, 35, and Masato Shinohara, 39 — were in critical condition, said hospital official Yukio Kamakura. They were in a state of shock and had fever and diarrhea. All three had an unusually high white blood cell count, although Yutaka Yokokawa, 54, was alert and able to walk, he said.
A total of 34 other workers were being examined for possible contamination.
Hair samples from 11 workers showed traces of radioactivity, said Tsuhitoh Matsuzaki, a local official. The level of their exposure immediately wasn't known.
U.S., South Korean governments promise inquiry into mass killings
The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — The South Korean and U.S. governments promised full investigations yesterday into accounts of mass killings of refugees by U.S. Army troops at the South Korean hamlet of No Gun Ri in 1950.
Survivors of No Gun RI, reacting to an Associated Press report in which their accounts were corroborated by U.S. veterans, had demanded a full inquiry by Washington.
least 100 died.
The news of the findings on No Gun Ri was headlined on front pages and in newscasts throughout South Korea.
The survivors' group said 300 people were killed in the mass shooter after 100 died in an air attack in late July 1950, during the early weeks of the Korean War. Ex-Gls said at
Asked about No Gun Ri at a Parliament hearing on ministry matters yesterday, the South Korean defense minister, Cho Sung-tae, said he might ask for U.S. cooperation in the South Korean probe.
"The ministry is checking whether it is true or not," he said of the report. "If necessary, we will try to get declassified U.S. military documents and will conduct a field investigation."
In Washington, President Clinton told reporters Defense Secretary William Cohen supported the investigation. The president's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, called the news report obviously deeply disturbing.
Army Secretary Louis Caldera, briefing reporters, said the new information demanded that it be
looked into. He said he expected a Pentagon investigation to take at least a year and to include interviews with veterans of the Army unit involved at No Gun Ri.
If the Pentagon confirms the allegations, he said, compensation to the survivors would be appropriate.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that a dozen Army veterans corroborated the core of the Koreans' account of the killings at No Gun Ri, 100 miles southeast of Seoul.
Based on decl classified U.S. military archives, that U.S. commanders at the time issued orders to their troops to shoot civilians in order to guard against disguised North Korean enemy among columns of South Korean refugees.
There was no immediate official comment from communist North Korea.
WWII writer receives Nobel Prize in literature
The Associated Press
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Guenter Grass, Germany's best-known writer of the post-World War II generation, won the 1999 Nobel Prize in literature yesterday.
The announcement brought a smile from the 71-year-old author.
"I'm happy," he said.
The Swedish Academy cited Grass' first novel, The Tin Drum, published in 1959, for ushering in a new era for German literature.
"Here he comes to grips with the enormous task of reviewing contemporary history by recalling the disavowed and the forgotten; the victims, losers and lies that people wanted to forget because they had once believed in them," the academy said.
Combining naturalistic detail with fantastical images and events, Grass established his reputation with the The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse and Dog Years, published between 1959 and 1963.
The novels captured the German reaction to the rise of Nazism, the horrors of war and the guilt that lingered in the aftermath of Adolf Hitler's regime.
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