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Radiation reaches Sweden from Japan

Radioactivity from Japan’s earthquake-hit nuclear power plants has reached Sweden, but the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) says the levels recorded do not pose any danger to people or the environment.

Published: 24 March 2011 11:00 CET

Radiation reaches Sweden from Japan

The first changes in radioactivity in Sweden’s skies, very low levels of the radioisotope Iodine-131, have been registered at measurement centres in Stockholm, Umeå and Kiruna.

“Exactly as we had expected, we have now measured radioactive iodine from the nuclear accident in Japan,” Leif Moberg, head of research at the Radiation Safety Authority, said in a statement.

“The levels are very low and do not entail any risks at all for people or the environment,” he added.

The Swedish Defence Research Agency (Totalförsvarets Forskningsinstitut – FOI), which is carrying out the measurements on behalf of the authority, has not discovered any traces of Iodine-131 at its three other centers in Gävle, Visby, and Ljungbyhed.

The highest levels were recorded in Stockholm, but the authority described the reading of 0.3 milli-becquerels per cubic metre of air as “completely negligible”.

The authority said the measurements were much lower than the levels of constant background radiation in Sweden emanating from bedrock and other sources.

The authority will continue to monitor the situation and publish up to date radiation measurements on its website (see below).

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Turkish community in Germany gathers to help earthquake victims

In dozens of cities in Germany, donations are being collected for victims of the massive earthquake, which as of Wednesday afternoon had claimed more than 11,000 lives.

People are bringing tent stoves, flashlights, diapers, fleece blankets, and hand warmers. One of the many collection points has been organized by the German-Turkish care service Dosteli in Berlin.

At the governmental level, Germany — home to about three million people of Turkish origin — will” mobilise all the assistance we can activate”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a call with Erdogan and sent his “deep condolences”, as a search and rescue team left Tuesday afternoon with 50 rescuers and equipment.

The EU said it was “funding humanitarian organisations that are carrying out search and rescue operations” in Syria as well as providing water and sanitation support and distributing blankets.

Charities line up to help

Particularly in Berlin, where over eight percent of the population is of Turkish origin, people have lined up down streets to drop off supplies. But they have led large donation efforts in cities like Frankfurt and Hamburg, where several businesses like bars set aside space to collect supplies,

The Dostali team had been sorting clothes and hygiene items all night, packing them and loading them into trucks. “Almost the entire Turkish diaspora in Berlin was there,” one volunteer told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)

The helpers organized themselves via appeals in social media. From the collection points, the donations are to be transported by trucks and planes to the affected regions.

READ ALSO: Who are Germany’s foreign population and where do they live?

In response to an inquiry from the FAZ, Turkish Airlines confirmed that it was delivering donations from 14 countries to the Turkish crisis areas, Germany being one of them.

The Turkish community in Germany is well connected via social media – “and everyone wants to help,” said Kübra Oguz, a volunteer with the Puduhepa e.V., initiative founded by Turkish migrant women.

In order for this to happen in a targeted manner, she recommended directly donating money, which could then be funneled to buy food, hygiene products or shoes, depending on the need.

Several organisations in Germany and worldwide are also accepting donations for humanitarian aid, include UNICEF, Save the Children and Aktion Deutschland Hilft.

With reporting from AFP.

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