Fears about the potential for a transborder nuclear disaster spread across Asia Tuesday as Japan's nuclear crisis deepened, even as experts and officials sought to calm fraying nerves in countries as far away as Singapore and the Philippines.

A series of explosions at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power complex triggered a rush of concern across many countries in the region.

Memories of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 were at the fore of many people's minds. After a reactor there went out of control during a test, an explosion and raging fire destroyed the reactor building, unleashing large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere. Radioactive material was blown over a wide area and traced as far north as Sweden and Finland before dissipating across the northern hemisphere.

Most experts say a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster is a distant prospect, largely because the reactors used in Japan are better designed and include a concrete and steel containment structure. The Fukushima plant was also shut down before a dangerous chain-reaction could develop. Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, earlier described the probability of the current crisis morphing into a Chernobyl-like event as as 'very unlikely'.

But there is still much that scientists don't understand about the crisis in Japan, especially the question of how to best cool the reactors, and governments across the region began preparing for a possible escalation of the crisis by announcing plans to test food imports from Japan for signs of radiation.

Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea were among countries saying they would monitor fresh produce for signs of contamination, while authorities in Thailand said they are ready to test all Japanese goods if necessary.

Ordinary people in a range of countries also took preventive action. Residents in Russia's Far East bought up potassium iodide pills to prevent radiation sickness while military units based on the island of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands just north of Japan prepared to evacuate if the nuclear threat worsens. 'There has definitely been a run on these kinds of medicines in the last two days,' said a salesperson at a pharmacy in Vladivostok.

In the Philippines, government agencies and medical organizations rushed to reassure Filipinos panicked by a wave of cellphone text messages which warned that a potentially deadly cloud of radiation was about to settle over the country. At the peak of the scare, Manila's Polytechnic University of the Philippines suspended classes after a deluge of calls from anxious students and parents. In a statement, university President Dante Guevarra said he shut the university, which is now open again, to help 'eliminate any fear and stress.'

The text messages were purportedly based on a news alert from the British Broadcasting Corp., and warned that people should 'remain indoors first 24hrs' and 'swab the neck' with an iodine solution because 'radiation hits the thyroid first.'

The BBC said it didn't issue any such message. A Philippines-based doctor, Mike Aragon, noted that even if radioactive particles drifted the 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) from Japan to Manila, applying iodine to a person's neck would offer 'very limited protection, if any at all' from the effects of radiation, although potassium iodide pills can prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing radioactive iodine.

Among the many casualties from the Chernobyl meltdown, the International Atomic Energy Agency reports at least 1,800 documented cases of thyroid cancer in children under the age of 14. Radiation exposure can disrupt the body's natural control mechanisms and allow cancer cells to multiply.

Crucially, the Chernobyl plant lacked the concrete and steel containment structures used at Fukushima complex in Japan─something experts say is reducing the risk of a catastrophic, Chernobyl-style meltdown n Japan.

But the comparatively safer design of the Fukushima plan didn't stop the warnings from being quickly forwarded from cellphone to cellphone in the Philippines.

The barrage of text messages helped trigger a run on iodine-based products at many Manila drugstores, sales staff said, while doctors telephoned government hot lines to gauge the seriousness of the threat. Dr. Oscar Tinio, president of the Philippine Medical Association, said he telephoned government officials as soon as he got wind of the text messages, establishing that they were untrue. 'It was a malicious hoax,' he said.

Similar, often erroneous messages also appeared in Thailand and Indonesia, but the speed with which they spread in the Philippines prompted government officials there to launch a public-information campaign downplaying the scale of the threat.

In Thailand, Thai Airways International PCL said it would prevent its crew and cabin staff staying overnight in Japan to reduce the risk of employees being affected by radiation as worries about the extent of the nuclear threat deepened. Taiwan-based EVA Airways Corp., meanwhile, said Tuesday it will cancel 56 flights between Japan and Taiwan because of radiation concerns.

'I'm afraid the radiation could come to Thailand,' said Sirima Patiphantakan, a 53-year-old shopkeeper in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. She said her family and neighbors were discussing what to do about the situation and, like people in the Philippines, had received cellphone messages about the potential danger. 'We're trying to stay home as much as possible and keeping on top of the news,' she said.

就在专家和官员努力安抚远在新加坡和菲律宾等国不安的公众之际，随着日本核危机的加剧，对可能发生跨境核灾难的担心周二在亚洲各地蔓延。

Reuters人们在香港的商店门外排队购买日本奶粉，一名警察在维持秩序。福岛第一核电站发生的一连串爆炸引发了该地区很多国家民众的担忧狂潮。

对很多人来说，1986年乌克兰发生的切尔诺贝利核灾难仍记忆犹新。当时，切尔诺贝利的一座反应堆在测试期间失控，爆炸和熊熊大火摧毁了反应堆建筑，向大气中释放出大量辐射物质。辐射物质飘过辽阔的海洋，甚至在瑞典和芬兰等遥远的国家都能探测到，之后在北半球消散。

大部分专家说，再次发生切尔诺贝利式核灾难几率不大，主要是因为日本所用的反应堆设计得更好，包括一个钢筋混凝土的密封装置。此外，福岛第一核电站在可能发生危险的连锁反应之前就关闭了。联合国国际原子能机构(International Atomic Energy Agency)总干事天野之弥(Yukiya Amano)此前说，目前这场危机发展成切尔诺贝利一样的事故是“非常不可能的”。

不过，对于日本的危机，科学家仍有很多不清楚的地方，特别是如何最有效地冷却反应堆。该地区各国政府开始为危机可能升级做准备，纷纷宣布对日本进口食品进行核辐射检测的计划。

香港、新加坡、马来西亚和韩国等国家和地区说，他们将监测新鲜农产品是否有受到核辐射污染的迹象，而泰国当局则说，他们准备好了在必要时对全部日本产品进行检测。

Reuters3月15日，菲律宾核研究所的工作人员在马尼拉奎松市检测空气中的辐射水平。很多国家的普通百姓也采取了防范措施。俄罗斯远东地区的居民抢购碘化钾药片，以预防受到辐射的危害。驻扎在日本以北萨哈林岛(Sakhalin)和千岛群岛(Kuril)的部队则准备一旦核威胁加剧就撤离。符拉迪沃斯托克(Vladivostok)一家药店的一名销售人员说，过去两天里，人们无疑在抢购这类药品。

在菲律宾，政府机构和医疗组织忙着安抚惊恐的民众，此前有大量手机短信警告说，一团可能致命的核辐射云团即将飘到菲律宾的上空。在恐慌最严重的时候，位于马尼拉的菲律宾综合科技大学(Polytechnic University of the Philippines)在接到不安的学生和家长如潮水般的电话后宣布停课。该校校长格瓦拉(Dante Guevarra)在声明中说，学校停课以帮助消除恐惧和紧张。目前该校已经复课。

这条手机短信据传是基于英国广播公司(BBC)一则警告性新闻的内容编写的，短信提醒人们应“继续留在室内24小时”并“用碘溶液擦抹脖颈”，因为“放射性物质会首先袭击甲状腺”。

BBC说，它没有发布过任何此类信息。在菲律宾的医生阿拉贡(Mike Aragon)指出，如果放射性微粒从日本飘移3,000公里来到马尼拉，用碘涂抹脖子来保护自己不受核辐射危害的效果将“非常有限”，甚至可能一点效果也没有，虽然碘化钾片能阻止甲状腺吸收放射性碘。

据国际原子能机构(International Atomic Energy Agency)报告，在切尔诺贝利核电站事故的受害者中，至少有1,800人有明文记录是在14岁以前患上了甲状腺癌。核辐射能破坏人体的自然免疫机制，使得癌细胞可以大量繁殖。

至关重要的一点是，切尔诺贝利核电站缺少日本福岛核电站所使用的那种混凝土和钢制密封装置，专家们说，这些密封装置会降低日本出现切尔诺贝利式核灾难的风险。

但日本福岛核电站这种比较安全的设计未能阻止上述那些防灾警告在菲律宾通过手机迅速传播。

销售人员说，大量发送的这类短信一定程度上引发了马尼拉许多药店出现的含碘产品抢购风。与此同时，医生们则打政府热线电话来评估来自日本核威胁的严重程度。菲律宾医疗协会(Philippine Medical Association)的主席提尼奥(Oscar Tinio)医生说，他一听说有这类警告性手机短信在传播，马上就给政府官员打电话，强调短信所说内容是不正确的。他说，这是一种不怀好意的欺骗。

与菲律宾一样，泰国和印度尼西亚也出现了这种常常传播错误信息的短信。这类短信在菲律宾的迅速传播，促使该国政府官员通过大量公开信息来打消人们对核威胁程度的过分担忧。

在泰国，泰国国际航空公司(Thai Airways International PCL)说，由于对日本核威胁波及范围的担忧加剧，它将阻止公司的机组人员和空乘人员在日本过夜，以降低他们遭受核辐射的危险。台湾的长荣航空公司(EVA Airways Corp.)周二说，由于担心核辐射，它将取消56个日本和台湾间的往返航班。

泰国北部城市清迈53岁的店主Sirima Patiphantakan说，自己担心日本的核辐射会波及到泰国。她说，她的家人和邻居都在谈论如何应对这一局面，与菲律宾人一样，他们也收到了谈论核辐射潜在危险的手机短信。Sirima Patiphantakan说，我们正尽可能长地待在家里，及时了解最新相关消息。