Let me express my heartfelt sympathies to the disaster victims of the unprecedented earthquake.
From the massive earthquake that hit the eastern Japan on March 11, 2011, fortunately there were no major injuries at AIST. However, there were buildings and experimental equipment that were greatly damaged.
The damages will not affect the surrounding areas. All research activities had been halted and we are gradually resuming work starting Monday, March 14. We are presently looking into the specifics of the damages.
We have started radiation measurements in the Tsukuba area and are not only providing the information to Ibaraki prefecture and Tsukuba city but also are releasing it on our website. We would like to respond to public needs as much as possible concerning this disaster.
Our website and internal e-mail service have been restarted, but the databases and many of the services are still halted. These will gradually be restarted. However, as it is known, there is a tight supply of electricity in eastern Japan due to the earthquake, and all will be carried out under strict electricity usage restrictions.
As far as is known, we anticipate that it will take a long time to restore the research infrastructure. We would be grateful for your cooperation and understanding.
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