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PACOM could evacuate 87,000 Americans

SAN DIEGO — The admiral in charge of all U.S. military forces in the Pacific region said on Thursday the military has developed contingency plans to evacuate 87,000 Americans — including Defense Department personnel — from Japan if the situation deteriorates.

Adm. Robert Willard, who commands U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii, told Pentagon reporters during a press conference Thursday evening that the United States, in a worst-case scenario, would be prepared to evacuate as many as 87,300 U.S. citizens, including military personnel and family members from Tokyo and the surrounding areas. That would include the large naval base in Yokosuka, located south of the capital near the entrance to Tokyo Bay and home to the forward-deployed aircraft carrier George Washington.

“We have developed those plans in order to meet these kinds of capacity requirements, should they be needed,” Willard said during a 45-minute teleconference, which was streamed live at the Pentagon Channel.

The United States has four commercial aircraft operating from Narita Airport to accommodate those who want to return to the states, Willard said. He wasn’t sure how many Americans had already opted to voluntarily leave Japan, but said “at times they leave unfilled.”

“We anticipate that as word gets out ... that more would take advantage of it. We are geared up for the maximum,” he said.

The plans are among the worst-case scenarios that military planners and U.S. officials are weighing as they continue to assist Japan with efforts to track the effects of radiation in the region and ongoing measures to contain any leakage and stabilize the reactors.

“It’s a confluence of three major disasters in one,” Willard said.

Efforts to contain the damage, help with recovery and deploy military forces where needed for search-and-rescue operations in the hard-hit region are complicated by the radiation threat.

Willard remained hopeful, however, that the massive ongoing efforts to contain the leakage of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant would minimize the spread of the dangerous radiation and reduce the threat in the region.

“We are committed in seeing this through,” said Willard, a former Pacific Fleet commander who characterized the situation as “the most complex disaster environment” he’s seen in his career.

The Japanese government and officials in the prefectures devastated by the massive March 11 earthquake and destructive tsunami are grappling with a half-million displaced people in northeast Honshu. The United States has sent several ships and aircraft, including the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan, along with 2,200 Marines to help with humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

“We have absolutely all of our military personnel located forward in a position to help,” Willard said. “We have a plan in place to protect United States citizens,” as well as support Japanese Self-Defense Forces “if that worse-case scenario would ever be enacted.”