No Country For Old Men

Soldiers found 128 elderly patients abandoned by medical staff at an evacuated hospital near the Fukushima nuclear plant, reports the Guardian. Many of the patients were comatose, and 14 died shortly after their discovery. Similar scenes unfolded at care homes, with one nearby retirement facility reporting that 11 residents froze to death after emergency fuel supplies ran out. The grisly reports highlighted the degree to which Japan's elderly people, who make up almost one-quarter of the population, are suffering in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami. The New York Times reports that thousands of seniors remain stranded near the damaged nuclear reactors, unable to leave and with limited access to supplies from outside the danger zone. "Those who can leave have already left," says one local resident. "Those here are the ones who cannot escape." Authorities are reportedly also struggling to cope with the huge numbers of elderly people now living in refugee shelters, many of whom lost essential supplies ranging from medications to dentures in the rush to flee their homes. "This is much worse than World War II," says one 71-year-old survivor. "During the war, us kids were able to get away from the places that got bombed."
via Slate Magazine