Harmful fallout not expected to reach U.S.

WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- Harmful levels of radiation from Japan aren't expected to reach the West Coast or U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean, President Barack Obama said Thursday.

"We do not expect harmful levels to reach the United States, whether the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska or U.S. territories in the Pacific," Obama said in providing an update on the catastrophic events in Japan.

Friday's epic 9-magnitude earthquake and the gigantic tsunami it unleashed have taken a terrible toll in the country. In addition, the earthquake crippled the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant that has been rocked by damaging fires and explosion, prompting an evacuation of residents within a 12-mile radius of the plant.

U.S. residents within a 50-mile radius were evacuated, Obama said, as a precaution.

He said the expectations were based on the judgment of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other experts.

Furthermore, public health experts and professionals at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said no precautionary measures are necessary "beyond staying informed," Obama said.

Because of the events in Japan, Obama said he asked the NRC to review U.S. nuclear plants.

"We have a responsibility to learn from events like this," he said.

He said the United States is "bringing all available resources to bear" to monitor the situation and remove U.S. citizens from harm's way.

Search and rescue teams, disaster assistance and response teams, and the U.S. military were working in Japan to provide expertise, equipment and technology to "those courageous responders on the scene," Obama said.

He said he told Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, "the Japanese people are not alone in this time of great trial and sorrow."

America would lend a helping hand to its longtime ally with whom it shares "the ties of family, the ties of culture and the ties of commerce."

"Above all, I am confident that Japan will recover and rebuild because of the strength and spirit of the Japanese people," Obama said.

Earlier Thursday, Obama made an unannounced visit to the Japanese Embassy Thursday, signing a condolence book for victims of the recent disasters in Japan.

Obama, in brief remarks to reporters, said he convened "how heartbroken the American people are" about the disasters that struck the island nation.