Foreigners stuck in Japan: 'It's terrifying. We want to get out'

12 April 2012

Stranded foreigners living near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant told of their fear today as they desperately tried to find a way to leave the region.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from areas within 12 miles of the facility. People between 12 miles and 19 miles away are being told to stay indoors, and a no-fly zone has been imposed within a 19-mile radius.

But thousands living just outside the exclusion zone are also trying to leave. Sean Wcisel, who is stranded with wife Jennifer in Aizuwakamatsu, said he was "terrified".

The 25-year-old software developer from Michigan, said thousands were flooding into the city: "We are about 90km west of the reactor. Things are extremely tense. We haven't been able to get gasoline, food or bottled water. It's been almost impossible to get on a bus leaving the city - the queues have been so bad.

"Radiation is the major concern. The situation seems to be getting worse and worse. We've had a huge influx of people coming in from the areas around the nuclear plant." He and his wife, a 24-year-old English teacher, want to get to the west coast: "The winds are supposedly shifting inland tonight.

"We need to get out of here by the time that happens. It's terrifying. We're still feeling aftershocks every 10 to 30 minutes. We're only getting a couple of hours of sleep a night."

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