State Department Expands Voluntary Evacuation Area

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is expanding the area for voluntary evacuations for family members of U.S. personnel in Japan.

The department issued a travel warning late Wednesday warning Americans to avoid travel to Japan and authorizing evacuations for family members of its personnel out of Tokyo, Nagoya and Yokohama.

The department issued an updated warning Friday night that expanded the evacuation area to 13 other prefectures. The warning also authorized departure for family members at Misawa Air Base in northern Japan because of damage from the earthquake and the resulting tsunami a week ago.

The warning gave no details on why the evacuation area was expanded.