Quebecer confirmed dead in Japan

A Quebecer has died following the tsunami that devastated the northeastern Pacific coast of Japan on Sunday. André Lachapelle was in the port city of Sendai at the time of the quake. The man died of a heart attack at the hospital, after authorities found him.

It is estimated that over ten thousand people will died from the earthquake and the resulting powerful after shocks. Of these, only one thousand eight hundred people were confirmed dead. Many of the victims are still missing and authorities are continuing their search for survivors.

The fear of a full-scale meltdown of the nuclear reactors of the Fukushima power plant is still present. An explosion in one of the reactors on Saturday has led the Tokyo Electric Power company to take measures. Seawater was poured in two of the reactors’ core to cool them down, and replace the evaportated water.

The damages from the twin disasters could cause a rise in pressure that would create an explosion and unleash radioactive material into the air, if the reactor are not cooled down enough. Two hundred and fifteen thousand people have been evacuated in a twenty kilometers radius from the power plant. However, no case of contamination has been reported.