Japan Reactor Blasts Prompt Firms to Move Workers to Safety

By Takahiko Hyuga and Dave McCombs

Citigroup Inc. has received requests from several senior employees at its trading operations in Tokyo who are asking to relocate out of Japan, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

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March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg reporter Stuart Biggs speaks about Japan's nuclear crisis after Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s stricken nuclear power plant was today rocked by two further explosions and a fire as workers struggled to avert the risk of a meltdown. Biggs, traveling north of Tokyo, speaks with Erik Schatzker on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)

Alcatel-Lucent SA, ICAP Plc (IAP) and Infosys Technologies Ltd. (INFY) are among companies moving employees in Japan after Prime Minister Naoto Kan warned that the risk of a leak from an earthquake-damaged nuclear plant is rising.

Infosys, India’s second-largest software exporter, is helping move employees to a safe location, according to an e- mailed statement. Alcatel-Lucent, France’s biggest maker of phone equipment, said it may allow employees in Tokyo to relocate to other areas of Japan.

Citigroup Inc. (C) has received requests from several senior employees at its trading operations in Tokyo to relocate out of Japan, a person with knowledge of the matter said. ICAP Plc, the world’s largest broker of transactions between banks, is allowing expatriates in Tokyo with families to relocate on a temporary basis to Hong Kong and Singapore, another person said.

“I sent my family to the Philippines this morning,” said Tokyo-based Curtis Freeze, founder of Prospect Asset Management Inc., which manages $280 million and has been investing in Japan for more than two decades. “At least there is peace of mind this way.”

Freeze, whose wife is Filipino and who owns a house in the country, said he’ll stay in Tokyo to work.

Companies are moving to ensure the safety of workers after Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s stricken nuclear power plant 135 miles (220 kilometers) north of the capital was rocked by explosions. The International Bankers Association sought to quell speculation that financial-services workers are leaving Japan, saying none of the companies it represents have announced plans to evacuate staff.

Safe Locations

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS), India’s largest computer- services business, is ready to bring Indian employees in Japan back home and move Japanese staff and their families to safe locations, according to a statement from the company.

New York-based Citigroup isn’t planning to move staff out of the country, spokeswoman Naomi Watanabe said in an interview.

“We have contingency plans, and if the situation changes this may involve moving some staff to other locations as needed to ensure business continuity,” Watanabe said. “We are in constant touch with local government officials.”

A spokeswoman at ICAP in London didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Major financial firms in Japan are operating “business as usual,” the International Bankers Association, which represents companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), Citigroup and Bank of America Corp., said in a statement on its website.

Planning to Leave

WestLB AG, the German state-owned lender bailed out during the financial crisis, has offered its remaining 20 or so employees in Tokyo the option of working from abroad in other locations, Armin Kloss, a spokesman for the company said via telephone.

Terrence Giang, who’s studying Japanese in Yokohama near Tokyo, said he isn’t taking any chances. Giang, who worked as an analyst at Warren Lichtenstein’s Steel Partners Japan in New York until last year, said he booked an American Airlines Corp. flight leaving for Los Angeles today. He had earlier planned to leave Japan on March 18.

“Earthquakes are one thing but when it comes to something like radiation poisoning, it’s something to some extent that you have to be very concerned about,” said Giang, 31.

The German and French embassies have recommended citizens leave Tokyo because of the nuclear risks. About 100 Germans live in the Tohoku area, where a magnitude 9 quake struck Japan on March 11, while 2,600 are in Tokyo and 900 in the Kanagawa area, Mari Shindo, a spokeswoman at the embassy, said in an interview.

Flights Suspended

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s second-biggest airline, has suspended flights to and from Tokyo and is rerouting planes to Nagoya and Osaka, spokesman Thomas Jachnow said.

The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami rose to 2,734 as of 6:30 p.m. local time yesterday, according to official police figures.

Peter Cooper, a 26-year-old Tokyo-based English language teacher from Toronto who’s lived in Japan for five months, said he’s moving to Osaka for a few days.

“My parents back home have been in contact with me, basically screaming at me to leave the country,” Cooper said as he waited for a train at the Tokyo Station. “Half of me is terrified, and the other half is ready to wait and see what happens.”