.From Greece, we are going to move across the Atlantic Ocean to Guatemala. Parts of that's Central American nation are recovering after it was hit by a powerful earthquake earlier this week. The quake had a magnitude of 7.4, that made it the strongest quake to hit Guatemala in more than 35 years. According to the country's president, at least 52 people were killed in the quake, hundreds of others were triggered for injuries, thousands of homes were damaged, and roads collapsed with rubble crushing cars all over Guatemala. But the president said the damage and the devastation could have been worse.

 

Finally, we are heading over to Japan, in March of 2011, you might remember. The country suffered its worst earthquake ever, triggered a tsunami and giant ocean wave, and that led to a meltdown at the Japanese nuclear facilities. We've reported on debris from that disaster washing ashore in Hawaii and in Alaska. But Japanese officials still have tons of it to deal with there in Japan. And as Alex Zolbert explains, you can't just throw it away.

 

It's been more than a year and a half since the devastating tsunami in Japan's Tohoko region, and while substantial progress has been made the country is still grappling with more than 13 million tons of debris. About 20% of what remained is set to be destroyed in other parts of the country. Today, trucks arrived at this incineration plant in Shizuoka, several hours drive south of Tokyo. Official say these debris is shredded remnants of people's homes. About 250 kilometers or 150 miles from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. But with concerns over possible fallout still running high, officials here measure radiation levels. But for a small crowd of onlookers, it's a well choreographed, very deliberate routine, according to officials, these debris fails to trigger any elevated readings. The shipment is cleared, the truck pulls in and dumps its load. Which is then hoisted into the incinerator.

 

Once concerned citizens are pleased with what they've seen today.

 

There are the critics here in Shizuoka, some who questioned the logic in transporting these debris, more than 700 kilometers or about 430 miles across the country. Then there are those who say the government should have been more trans-experienced. Masahiro Kasyua says the affected area is using all of its incineration resources, they need our help, but we will continue to make our case as we've been doing, carefully, tenaciously.