Radiation tests in Japan schools

The tests will take two days to complete

Officials in the Fukushima region of Japan have started an emergency programme to measure radiation levels in school playgrounds.

More than 1,400 schools and nurseries will be tested over two days amid anxiety among parents over leaks at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The plant was crippled by last month’s earthquake and tsunami.

Officials say there should be no risk to children if they keep outside a 30-km (19-mile) exclusion zone.

Workers at the plant have begun dumping water with low levels of contamination into the sea to free up room to store more highly radioactive water leaking at the site.

About 11,500 tonnes of water will be released.

The official death toll from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which struck north-east Japan on 11 March stands at 12,157, with nearly 15,500 people still unaccounted for.

More than 80% of the victims have been identified and their bodies returned to their families.

A three-day joint operation by the Japanese and US militaries to find the missing recovered 78 bodies.

More than 161,000 people from quake-ravaged areas are living in evacuation centres, officials say.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.