Temple University evacuating its Tokyo campus

After days of warnings to students about radiation leaking from a damaged Japanese nuclear plant, Temple University officials on Thursday announced plans to evacuate Americans from their Tokyo campus.

A charter flight is being arranged to transport about 200 students in response to the fast-changing crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi generator, rocked in the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami. About 115 students already have left the country on their own, and 15 to 20 have left Tokyo for other places in Japan, university officials said.


The evacuation comes as the University of Pennsylvania and other U.S. colleges order or urge students out of Japan, and the State Department strongly urged U.S citizens to considering leaving amid the "deteriorating situation" at the plant.

Temple expects a flight to depart on Sunday, Japan time, its destination uncertain at present.

"We're working on it right now," said an exhausted Bruce Stronach, the Japan campus dean, reached by phone about 1:30 a.m. Tokyo time.

The school has been closed since the earthquake. Plans are to reopen the campus on March 28, but that date is subject to events.

The evacuation is not mandatory. Stronach has elected to stay behind, as have other staff. He was asked if he felt threatened by the radiation emanating from the plant, on the Japanese island of Honshu.

"Threatened, no. Nervous, yes," Stronach said. "I have lived in Japan for 22 of the last 35 years. I have been through many earthquakes. This is, without a doubt, 'the event.' "

Japanese authorities are using helicopters, fire trucks, and police cannons to pour on water, trying to keep the No. 3 reactor and its adjacent spent fuel pool from overheating. The quake damaged four of six reactors.

Four Penn students in Japan are now on their way home, university officials said, as fears of a nuclear meltdown prompt American colleges to bring back students and cancel travel plans for others.

The California State University system is bringing home about 45 students and calling off trips for another 50, and Stanford University announced that all 35 of its students have returned. Students from the University of North Dakota are back, while University of Wisconsin officials gave students the option to evacuate.

Temple University president Ann Weaver Hart credited Stronach and his staff for exemplary handling "of this trying and fast-evolving series of emergencies. They have worked tirelessly to keep our students safe."

Source : http://articles.philly.com/2011-03-18/news/29142137_1_students-tokyo-time-evacuation