Hk Sends Support Team in Tokyo to Help Residents Back

A 25-member support team sent by the Hong Kong government arrived in Tokyo Friday to help Hong Kong people leave Japan, the authority said.

The team, headed by Deputy Secretary for Security Ngai Wing-chit, comprises officers from the Police, Fire Services and Information Services Departments, Under Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok told reporters at Friday's conference.

They have joined the 12 Immigration officers there and staff of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in Tokyo to man a help desk at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku.

The team has helped 156 people secure flights and they will take the additional flight Friday night back home, said Lai.

He once again, as he did at Thursday's conference, appealed to the Hong Kong people in Tokyo to seriously consider returning to Hong Kong or moving to the south of Japan.

The capital city of Japan is about 220 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant whose four reactors out of six have been suffering cooling problems in the wake of the 9.0- magnitude earthquake and tsunami last Friday.

Since the official advised Hong Kong residents to leave Tokyo Thursday afternoon, the Immigration Department has received about 420 requests for help, among which 402 people requested an early return.

The Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways has arranged two additional flights with a total of about 700 seats to bring Hong Kong people home Friday night, while extra flights will also be arranged for the next three days.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, the Immigration Department was still trying to contact 20 people who had lost contact with their families.

Lai also noted that the radiation levels in Hong Kong remained normal. A meteorologist echoed Lai by saying that radioactivity from Fukushima, Japan is unlikely to affect Hong Kong in the next two days.

Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory Leung Wing-mo said Japan will be affected by westerly or southwesterly winds, which should blow any radioactivity from the country northeast, away from Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, by 3 p.m. Friday, the Customs & Excise Department had checked five containers and 27 batches of goods comprising 232 commodities imported by air. They were all confirmed to be safe.