Tokyo/Fukushima, Apr 23 (PTI) Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard today became the first foreign leader to visit Japan's tsunami-ravaged northeast, where authorities battled hard to contain an atomic crisis at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Gillard, who is on a four-day visit to Japan, toured the coastal town of Minamisanriku in Miyagi prefecture, one of the worst-hit areas in the March 11 quake and tsunami that left nearly 30,000 people dead or unaccounted for.

She visited the disaster-hit town, where Australian rescuers had worked last month, along with Japan's Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto, Kyodo news agency reported.

More than 1,130 people were killed or went missing in the town, which had a population of 17,600, following the twin disaster.

Gillard was briefed on the situation there by Minamisanirku Mayor Jin Sato, who himself barely survived the disaster at the town's disaster prevention office building.