Tokyo (CNN) -- Officials ordered an evacuation Friday of residents living near a Japanese nuclear power plant, saying there has been no sign yet of leaks but indicating a struggle to "cool down" the facility. An 8.9-magnitude earthquake led to cooling problems at one nuclear power plant and a fire at another, both of which were close to the quake's epicenter, government officials said.
Late Friday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters that people within 2 to 3 kilometers (1.2 to 1.8 miles) of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant had been told to leave the area. Those farther away - - within 3 to 10 kilometers -- were asked to stay home. Japan's Kyodo News Agency estimated that the evacuation order directly affected about 3,000 people.
"This is a precautionary instruction for people to evacuate," Edano said. "There is no radioactive leakage at this moment outside of the facility."
U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told him there was no evidence so far of radiation leaks from nuclear reactors because of the earthquake and tsunami, an assertion also made by Edano earlier in the day.
Yet Edano said the Fukushima Daiichi reactor "remains at a high temperature" because it "cannot cool down." Kyodo reported Friday that the radiation level was rising in a turbine building at the plant.
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