７日深夜に起きたマグニチュード（Ｍ）７．４の東日本大震災の余震について、八木勇治・筑波大准教授（地震学）は「沈み込む海洋プレート内で発生したとみられる」と説明する。同震災の本震で沈み込んだ海洋プレートが圧縮されて力が働き発生したと考えられ、「幸い震源が深かったため津波が起こりにくかった」と話す。
今後も余震に注意が必要だが、八木准教授によると、同じメカニズムで誘発される海溝付近の地震発生の可能性が高まっている。海溝寄りのプレート内大地震に分類される昭和三陸地震（１９３３年）のような津波を起こすタイプの地震で、「今後しばらくは十分な警戒が必要」と話す。
国内史上最大のＭ９．０を記録した東日本大震災では、気象庁が観測したＭ５以上の余震は３９６回（８日午前８時現在）で、４００回に迫ろうとしている。
過去１０年に日本全体で起きたＭ５以上の地震は年平均１２０回程度で推移したが、大震災１カ月足らずで３年分を超えた。【下桐実雅子】
毎日新聞 2011年4月8日 12時51分
平家が壇ノ浦で滅びた元暦２（１１８５）年、その７月９日に京都を襲った大地震では体に感じる余震が実に３カ月近くも続き、約２３０回に及んだ。そんなに詳しく分かるのは公家の中山忠親が日記「山槐記（さんかいき）」に克明に記録したからだ▲法勝寺九重の塔を倒し、宇治橋を崩したこの地震だが、「山槐記」は翌月の法会の記事の後に記す。「地震の事、今日に至る四十七日間一日も止（や）まず。或（あるいは）四五度、或両三度、或大動、或小動、皆そのたびごとに声あり」▲まさに「皆そのたびごとに声あり」という被災地の「大動」だった。過日テレビで小さな余震におびえて泣いていた避難所の幼い子にはどんなに怖かったことだろう。７日深夜、被災者をことさらさいなむかのように揺るがしたマグニチュード（Ｍ）７・１の余震だ▲震災から間もなく１カ月。まだ１万５０００人近くの行方も分からないのに、新たな地震による死者の報である。復興へとようやく気持ちも立ち直ろうかという時によみがえった悪夢、そして広域停電やインフラ復旧作業の後戻りだ。自然の非情が何ともうらめしい▲この巨大地震ではすでにＭ５以上の余震が約４００回発生し、過去１０年の全国の年平均地震回数の３倍を超える。気象庁によると、より大きな余震の起こる可能性も否定できない。また余震域以外の地方の地震発生率も震災前の数倍に増えたと聞けば、不気味である▲つまりは列島の住人すべてが震災は今も続いていると覚悟すべきなのだろう。震災が無慈悲で、執拗（しつよう）であればあるほど、人はお互いにもっとやさしく、もっと強く支え合えることを示さねばならない。
毎日新聞 2011年4月9日 0時02分
茨城県土浦市で０９年３月、長年精神科病院に通院していた女性（当時４９歳）が腸閉塞（へいそく）などで死亡した。連日嘔吐（おうと）して内科診療所に行ったが、精神科の受診歴を理由に診察を断られ、精神科病院で応急処置したものの、体の病には気付いてもらえなかった。地元の精神障害者支援団体などは「精神障害と身体疾患の合併症患者を受け入れる総合病院があれば助かった可能性がある」と指摘する。
身体疾患のある精神障害者を巡っては、腸閉塞を発症した東京都東久留米市の統合失調症の男性（当時４４歳）の救急搬送先が見つからず死亡した問題が明らかになったばかり。
土浦市の女性は２０代半ばから、理由なく父親を激しくののしるようになった。精神科病院を受診し、向精神薬の服用を続けたが、症状は改善しなかった。
両親は０９年１月、別の精神科病院に入院させたが母親（７５）に何度も「帰りたい」と訴え、３月６日に一時帰宅。約１週間後、女性が嘔吐し、２、３日たっても続いた。母親は３月半ばに内科診療所に連れて行った。
母親が医師に既往症を説明すると「精神科にかかっていた患者さんは分からないことがあるので診察できない」と言われた。母親は救急病院の受診も考えたが、精神障害者支援団体の仲間から「あそこは精神科の患者を断る」と聞いていたため見送ったという。
嘔吐は１日２、３回になり、母親は３月２０日「体の症状を診てくれるか分からないが、もうここしかない」と女性が入院していた精神科病院に診察を頼んだ。精神科医に吐き気止めの処置をしてもらったが、病名の説明はなかったという。
２１日夜、女性が自宅のトイレに入ったまま出てこないため、母親が見に行くと倒れていた。救急搬送されたが病院で間もなく息を引き取った。死因は腸閉塞と多臓器不全。母親は「内科の症状を診てくれる病院があれば、よくなっていたかもしれない」と悔やむ。
女性が最初に訪れた診療所の医師は「記録がないので詳しい経緯は分からないが、症状をうまく伝えられない精神障害者の場合は診察しない」と説明する。入院していた精神科病院の院長は「精神科医が身体疾患を診るのは非常に難しい。精神科病床のある総合病院があればよかった」と話す。
女性を支援してきた茨城県精神保健福祉会連合会の中川正次会長（８０）は「精神疾患があると一般診療科に受け入れられにくい。結果的に手遅れになってしまった。せめて精神科病院と一般病院の連携がスムーズだったら」と言う。
精神科病床のある総合病院の所在地について、日本総合病院精神医学会が０７年に調査したところ、国が入院医療の体制を整備するため全国の市町村を３６７地域に分けた「２次医療圏」のうち、４０都道府県の１２６地域（３４％）で一つもなかった。茨城県内には２カ所のみで、土浦地域は０８年３月末、国立病院機構・霞ケ浦医療センターが精神科病床を閉鎖し、空白地域になっている。【奥山智己】
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
情報やご意見をメール（t.shakaibu@mainichi.co.jp）、ファクス（０３・３２１２・０６３５）、手紙（〒１００－８０５１毎日新聞社会部「こころを救う」係）でお寄せください。
毎日新聞 2011年1月20日 東京朝刊
毎日新聞 2011年3月30日 0時06分
Whenever I speak at lectures, I remind my audience not to hesitate to seek professional assistance when they have problems.
At my consultation room, I sometimes see people who tried to endure suffering for a lengthy period of time before they finally decided to receive counseling. In one case, it took nearly two years for a patient with insomnia to seek professional help.
"I felt my problem was too small and I should not go to hospital. I was trying to face up to the situation on my own," one patient said.
Actually though, you don't have to push yourself too hard. Feel free to turn to a specialist for advice as soon as you notice something is wrong with you.
The same holds true for other problems, but a lot of people tend to avoid seeking professional help until the very last minute.
I often hear various institutions, such as a law firm specializing in debt problems and a consumer affairs center fighting against scams, say, "They should have come to talk to us much earlier."
It seems that a lot of people are feeling hesitant about sharing their problems with experts and believe that they must solve their problems on their own.
"Some clients said they were worried that we would blame them for their troubles. We would never do that," said a worker at a nonprofit organization that supports individuals with financial difficulties.
Experts and institutions specializing in fields such as welfare, medicine, law, etc. are there to help you when your problems got out of control. So, I have always asked my patients to stop blaming themselves and ask professionals for help.
I wonder if the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami are reaching out for help. It's been nearly one month since the disaster, and I wonder if residents in the region have recovered a little peace of mind and begun to seek support from specialized organizations as they struggle to restore their lives. I'm afraid those in areas without essential utilities have no emotional leeway to consult with experts about their future.
Recently, an increasing number of professional workers, who have realized that merely waiting for clients to visit their office is not helping at all, are proactively meeting with people in need of help as part of their outreach efforts.
The demand for "delivery services" by medical and legal experts is expected to increase in areas affected by the disaster. I would also like to visit evacuation shelters when I don't have appointments with regular patients.
At the same time, I hope more residents in areas hit by the disaster will tell us what kind of assistance they are looking for. It goes without saying that those who were not affected by the earthquake should also be more open to contact professional advisors. Now is the time to stop hesitating. (By Rika Kayama, psychiatrist)
(Mainichi Japan) April 10, 2011
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Workers at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant began work Sunday to remove highly radioactive water that has leaked and prevented restoration work that is necessary to stabilize Japan's prolonged nuclear crisis.
Toxic water has been found in the basements of the Nos. 1 to 3 reactor turbine buildings, as well as in nearby underground trenches connected to them. Transferring the water, totaling some 60,000 tons, to nearby tanks and other storage places is seen as vital to move ahead with the work to restore the key cooling functions for reactors damaged after the March 11 quake and tsunami.
The workers were to start soon with pumping out water filling a trench near the No. 2 reactor to a storage place they have secured inside the reactor's turbine building, as the level of the water is edging up, apparently because of steps taken to block the water from leaking into the Pacific Ocean, the government's nuclear safety agency said.
The water inside the basement of the No. 2 reactor turbine building and the trench connected to it is highly contaminated because it is believed to be originating from the No. 2 reactor core, the most dangerous of the three reactors where fuel rods have partially melted.
"As contaminated water with high concentration (of radioactive substances) will be moved, we would like to confirm the safety of the process," Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said at a press conference in the morning.
A worker in his 30s was taken to a hospital as he complained of feeling sick around 11:10 a.m. after laying a hose pipe for the work from 9:30 a.m., but is conscious and was found to have no radioactive materials on him, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.
Wearing a full-face mask, outerwear upon protective clothing, rubber gloves and high boots, the worker was exposed in the work to 4.84 millisieverts of radiation, which is below the limit of 5 millisieverts set for Sunday's work, said the utility known as TEPCO.
The water in the trench was to be transferred to a "condenser" inside the No. 2 reactor turbine building, where in normal operations steam created from the reactor is converted into water.
The condenser has a capacity to store 3,000 tons of liquid and work to empty the condenser finished Saturday.
Workers are also trying to open up a facility for nuclear waste disposal in the plant by continuing to dump relatively less contaminated water found inside the facility into the Pacific Ocean.
A total of 8,900 tons of water had been disposed of from the facility as of Sunday morning and TEPCO aimed to finish releasing the remaining 200 tons during the day.
The utility also flew a small unmanned helicopter to survey the plant, Nishiyama said.
(Mainichi Japan) April 10, 2011
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government will make the area within a 20-kilometer radius of the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant covered by its evacuation directive into an off-limits zone before allowing residents to temporarily return home, senior officials said Sunday.
The step is aimed at enhancing its control of the area where residents are temporarily returning home on their own to take out belongings despite radiation fears, with a view to forcing them out in case they refuse to leave, the officials suggested.
The Fukushima prefectural government has already urged Tokyo to accept imposing such an area, and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters Sunday that the government is making final arrangements for the step and will announce it in the near future.
Under the law, the heads of cities, towns and villages who receive a directive from the prime minister set a certain area as a legally binding "caution area," where people other than those engaged in disaster relief are prohibited from entering or ordered to leave, with punishment for violators.
After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami caused Japan's worst nuclear crisis at the power station some 220 km northeast of Tokyo, the government has directed people within 20 km of the plant to evacuate and those in the 20- to 30-km ring to stay indoors or voluntarily leave the area.
The government, meanwhile, lifted its ban imposed March 23 on shipments of raw milk from Ibaraki Prefecture, as tests have shown it is no longer contaminated with radioactive materials above designated limits for consumption for three weeks in a row.
Radiation readings have fallen generally in northeastern and eastern Japan, with the level returning to that seen before the crisis in Gunma Prefecture in latest government data, but the Fukushima government said the same day it will measure radiation levels at more locations next week, except for the 20-km zone, to meet demand from residents.
"We recognize that it's necessary to talk with municipalities and set the area as a caution zone as a step before" enabling affected residents to temporarily return home, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama said earlier in the day on a Fuji TV program.
Fukuyama said the government aims to allow residents to make visits to their homes "for an hour or two" at an early date, and that necessary measures such as screening and removal of radioactive substances will be taken.
As for the 20- to 30-km area for residents to stay indoors, Fukuyama said the government is considering expanding it as "some areas outside of the 30-km zone have seen the cumulative amount of radiation on the rise, depending on the wind."
(Mainichi Japan) April 10, 2011
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Companies dispatching workers to Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are refusing to adopt the government-imposed provisional limit on radiation exposure for those workers at the plant, saying it would not be accepted by those at the site, Kyodo News learned Saturday.
The limit was lifted from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts in an announcement made March 15 by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare at the request of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which has the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency under its wing, and other bodies.
The increase was requested to enable workers to engage in longer hours of assignments and to secure more workers who meet the restriction.
The advisability of the hastily decided limit may be called into question as workers have to handle a wider range of work over an extended period of time. They are now faced with tasks such as removing rubble and disposing of contaminated water in addition to their initial job of restoring the lost power sources at the plant that was crippled by the March 11 quake and tsunami.
The contract companies say they are sticking to the previous limit.
The health ministry said, "Based on medical expertise, a maximum limit has been adopted that would not cause health damage such as a temporary decline in white blood cell count." The ministry's decision was made after consulting with the science ministry's advisory body Radiation Council.
The ministry said it referenced a view of the International Commission on Radiological Protection that sets the upper limit in an emergency situation to a dose of 500-1,000 millisieverts.
The limit was upheld at 100 millisieverts when Japan was faced with a serious accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant in 1999 in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture.
According to Tokyo Electric, 21 workers were exposed to a cumulative dose of more than 100 millisieverts as of April 1. On March 24, three workers from Kandenko Co. and a subcontractor were exposed to high doses of radiation during their work at a building close to a reactor, making employers of plant workers nervous.
A public relations officer at Kandenko, a TEPCO affiliate, said, "Those at work sites would not agree to accept a suddenly lifted" limit. The three in question were exposed to 173-180 millisieverts and two of them suffered burns to their feet.
"We have to be prudent. Considering safety, we will maintain the 100 millisievert limit," the officer said.
An official at Tokyo Energy & Systems Inc., a TEPCO subsidiary, said, "The control target rate at the site is 100 millisieverts. In practice, we have set a limit lower at 80 millisieverts to make room for controlling radiation exposure."
Construction companies Kajima Corp. and Taisei Corp. have also adopted 100 millisieverts as their yardsticks.
Hitachi Ltd. has adopted "200 millisieverts under an in-house regulation," a public relations official said.
TEPCO has been going along with the higher limit. Just days ago, however, it was disclosed that not all its workers were equipped with radiation monitors due to shortages of units with alarms.
(Mainichi Japan) April 10, 2011
JAKARTA (Kyodo) -- Foreign ministers of Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations called Saturday for closer coordination in boosting the safety of nuclear power plants in the wake of a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami last month that triggered the nuclear crisis in Japan.
The two sides "support Japan's resolve to take a leadership role in the international undertaking to improve the safety of nuclear power plants, and its willingness to share experiences learned from the accident with ASEAN member states," the ministers said in a chairman's statement issued after a half-day meeting in Jakarta.
It was the first time that ASEAN has convened a foreign ministerial meeting in response to a disaster that occurred outside the territory of the 10-member grouping, Japanese officials said.
ASEAN acknowledged with appreciation Japan's assurance that it will provide information to the international community "with maximum transparency" on the response to the accident involving the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, including radioactivity leakages, the statement said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said Japan is doing its utmost to put radioactivity leaks from the Fukushima plant under control in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and that the amount of radiation in the air has gradually been reduced, the officials said.
Matsumoto said Japan is employing strict food safety measures, and asked that ASEAN take a "reasonable response calmly based on scientific evidence," they said.
Radioactive leaks from the nuclear plant have sparked global concerns about the safety of nuclear power and have forced a review of atomic power plants. Some countries have banned or restricted food imports from Japan over radiation fears.
The Japanese officials said ASEAN foreign ministers and senior officials apparently accepted Matsumoto's briefing, and no delegates criticized Japan for making insufficient explanations about nuclear power issues including developments at the Fukushima plant.
The accident came as ASEAN member states such as Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam are considering building nuclear power plants to meet the rising demand for electricity amid high economic growth.
Indonesia, which was hit by the 2004 Sumatra quake and tsunami, proposed Saturday's "special meeting" for Japan as ASEAN appreciates Tokyo's "unwavering support" for member states in times of need.
According to the statement, ASEAN expressed their "sympathy, solidarity and support" to the Japanese government and people in their recovery and reconstruction efforts from the March 11 quake and tsunami, which devastated northeastern and eastern Japan, killed nearly 13,000 people and left nearly 15,000 others missing, and sparked the nuclear crisis.
"With the increasing economic interdependence between Japan and ASEAN, the recovery and early reconstruction of Japan as well as the economic growth in ASEAN are mutually important," it said.
At the same time, ASEAN expressed the group's "strong expectation" that Japan will continue to contribute to the development and stability of the region.
Matsumoto told ASEAN that Japan will continue to support the group in achieving its goal of an economic community by 2015 through greater region-wide "connectivity" in areas such as transport and information communications technology infrastructure to trade and investment liberalization.
Japan and ASEAN called for strengthening a mechanism to facilitate the flow of assistance during natural disasters in their regions.
The ministers underlined the need to ensure "prompt and smooth communication in times of disaster," as well as to enhance "coordination mechanisms to facilitate the flows of support in a timely manner," the statement said.
Following the March 11 disaster, lack of coordination has been cited as one of the biggest challenges in Japan's emergency relief operations. Many municipalities in the affected areas were reportedly unable to receive a large number of relief missions and volunteers because of limited coordination capacity.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
(Mainichi Japan) April 10, 2011
SENDAI (Kyodo) -- Rescue workers and citizens have turned in to police tens of millions of yen in cash found in the rubble in mud-covered coastal areas in Japan's northeastern region, hit hard by the killer quake and massive tsunami last month, police said Saturday.
While police and local governments are pessimistic about finding the original owners, unless the money was found with the original owners' identifications, survivors are calling on authorities to use it to help in the reconstruction of the ravaged areas.
Under Japan's law, people who find money can keep it if the original owners do not come forward within the three-month custodial period. When people who find it give up their claim or fail to show up to receive it within two months after the expiration of the custodial period, ownership will be transferred to prefectural governments or the owners of the property where the money was discovered.
According to the police in Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures, police stations receive everyday on average several hundred items containing cash. The areas were hit hard by the March 11 earthquake and ensuing tsunami waves.
The Miyagi prefectural police said the money has only been returned to the owners in less than 10 percent of the total cases. A senior officer of the police force said, "It is impossible to return cash unless it is found inside a wallet together with an ID."
Shigeko Sasaki, 64, who is in a shelter in Miyagi's Minamisanriku, said, "I want anybody picking up money to donate it to disaster-hit areas instead of keeping it for themselves."
Kenji Sato, 65, in Onagawa, also in Miyagi, said it is acceptable for people who find money and report it to the police to eventually keep it "because it means they have goodwill." Sato said he spotted many empty bags being dumped in devastated areas.
Takehiko Yamamura, head of the Disaster Prevention System Institute, urged authorities to set new measures to handle the matter, such as extending the three-month holding period and special permission to open a safe to determine the owner.
(Mainichi Japan) April 9, 2011
Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster starred in the film of From Here to Eternity
