Over 1,000 killed in quake and devastating tsunami in Japan
Tokyo, Mar 12 (PTI) : More than 1,000 people were feared dead in the massive tsunami triggered by Japan's most powerful earthquake which wrought devastation in northeast coastal Japan forcing the government to declare emergency at two nuclear plants after their cooling systems failed.
Kyodo new agency reported that 217 bodied have been recovered while the toll could be over 1,000.
The cooling systems in two key nuclear power plants at Fukushima plant were disabled and Japan's nuclear safety agency has said that the plant will release slightly radioactive vapour from the unit to lower the pressure in an effort to protect the reactor from a possible meltdown.
There has been no radiation leak.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered evacuation of over 45,000 residents living within 10-kilometres radius of the nuclear plants.
A strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit the country's mountainous Niigata prefecture northwest of Tokyo early this morning, causing landslides and avalanches and destroying some wooden houses.
Yesterday, the gushing waters following the 8.9- magnitude quake, the most powerful since the 1923 tremor in Great Kanto area in Tokyo and its vicinity which was 7.9 on Richter scale and had killed more than 140,000 people, swept houses, overturned ships, vehicles and set ablaze several buildings, including a petrochemical plant.
Most of the bodies were recovered from Sendai.
Japan's military mobilised thousands of troops, 300 planes and 40 ships for the relief effort, Kyodo reported.
At least 60 people were killed in Iwate prefecture and other places. A 67-year-old man was killed after being hit by a crumbling wall in Chiba prefecture, while a woman in her 50s died after a portion of a roof of a hall collapsed in Tokyo.
The National Police Agency said 531 people were reported missing and 627 others were injured in the quake and the 33-foot tidal waves in the country's northeast coast.
Television images showed fires raging in several building complexes as also a major petrochemical complex in Sendai. The tsunami also flooded the Sendai airport.
A ship carrying about 100 people was washed away by the huge tidal waves in Japan's northeast coast and its fate was not known, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing Miyagi prefecture police.
A passenger train with an unknown number of people aboard, running near Nobiru station on the Senseki Line connecting Sendai to Ishinomaki, was unaccounted for, the Japanese new agency said, quoting the police.
Buildings, even in far away Tokyo, shook vigorously and live footage by NHK showed a wide, muddy stream moving rapidly across a residential area near Natori River in Miyagi, levelling everything in its path.
The quake struck at 2:46 pm local time (11:16 am IST) and alerts were issued across the Pacific, including areas as far away as South America, US west coast, Canada and Alaska.
Kyodo quoting the fire and disaster management agency said more than 80 fires were reported from Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Fukushima, Ibaradi, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures.
Over 600 people, many of them students, were seen stranded atop a school rooftop in Sendai after a fire broke out nearby.
Earlier Update:
Massive Japan Earthquake Triggers Tsunami
Tokyo, Mar 11(Agencies): A 33-foot tsunami slammed into the coast off the city of Sendai in northeast Japan on Friday after an 8.9-magnitude quake struck offshore, Japanese media reported. ( US west coast, Hawaii on tsunami alert )
TV footage showed cars and houses being swept along in the water. The runways at Sendai Airport were submerged, with dozens of people seen on the roof of the terminal building.
Kyodo news reported that a seven-metre tsunami had reached Fukushima prefecture.
At least one person was killed in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo where four million homes were without power. The quake caused many injuries, fires and a wall of water across the coast, prompting warnings to people to move to higher ground. ( Japan nuclear plants shut after quake )
There were several strong aftershocks. In the capital Tokyo, buildings shook violently.
TV pictures showed a vast wall of water carrying the debris and even fires across a large swathe of coastal farmland near the city of Sendai, which has a population of one million.
Public broadcaster NHK showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted.
Black smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama's Isogo area. TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks floating in water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed into the water.
Kyodo news agency said there were reports of fires in Sendai where waves carried cars across the runway at the airport. ( How a tsunami is caused )
The western prefecture of Wakayama ordered 20,000 people to evacuate after further tsunami warnings.
"The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks," Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo. "It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago."
The Tokyo stock market extended losses after the quake. The central bank said it would do everything to ensure financial stability.
Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers' hands. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.
Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi Street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.
Household goods ranging from toilet paper to cling film were flung into the street from outdoor shelves in front of a drugstore.
Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds were watching and pointing to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, "They're still shaking!", "Are they going to fall?"
Asagi Machida, 27, a web designer in Tokyo, sprinted from a coffee shop when the quake hit.
"The images from the New Zealand earthquake are still fresh in my mind so I was really scared. I couldn't believe such a big earthquake was happening in Tokyo."
The U.S. Geological Survey earlier verified a magnitude of 7.9 at a depth of 15.1 miles and located the quake 81 miles east of Sendai, on the main island of Honshu. It later upgraded it to 8.9.
A police car drove down Hitotsugi Street, lights flashing, announcing through a bullhorn that there was still a danger of shaking.
Japan's northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people. Last year fishing facilities were damaged after by a tsunami caused by a strong tremor in Chile. ( Major tsunamis in the world )
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
Six Dead, Reports Confirm
At least six people were killed, 20 injured and many were missing, including a number of children who were sucked into the sea, the public broadcaster NHK reported.
The six deaths were reported at a welfare facility that collapsed in Minami Soma in Fukushima prefecture, and the Kyodo News agency said eight people were missing in a landslide in Fukushima prefecture.
Waves swamped buildings and swept away cars, boats, crops and even buildings. People gathered on the roofs of inundated buildings and houses. Women waved white handkerchiefs from windows, seeking help.
NHK showed footage of submerged vehicles in Kamaishi, Iwate prefecture, as a 4.2-metre tsunami hit the city's coast and of many houses in Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, being washed away by quake-generated waves.
High tsunami waves also hit Hiroo on Hokkaido, Japan's northern island.
The agency warned more waves up to 10 metres high would hit the coast of eastern Japan.
A tsunami advisory was issued in wide swathes of the eastern coast and around the Pacific.
The US Geological Survey said the initial quake was followed by at least eight large aftershocks, the strongest measuring magnitude 7.1 and striking 40 minutes after the first tremor.
Media reported extensive damage to buildings in and around Tokyo and the collapse of roofs on Tokyo buildings.
NHK showed footage of fire at petrochemical complexes in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo.
Narita International Airport and airports in Senda, Iwate Hanamaki, Aomori and Yamagata were closed, the Jiji Press agency said. NHK showed footage of the Sendai Airport submerged.
Nuclear power stations on the Pacific coast in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures shut down operations automatically after the quake hit.
More than 4.5 million households experienced power outages in the metropolitan area, Tokyo Electric Power Co said. Almost all the households in eastern Japan experienced power failures, NHK said.
Japanese train service, including bullet trains, were suspended in northeastern and central Japan.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued tsunami warnings for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas and tsunami watches for Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Hawaii, Guam and other Pacific islands.
The centre forecast arrival times for Russia's Urup Island at 0714 GMT, initial times for Taiwan at 0932 GMT, the Philippines at 0955 GMT and Indonesia at 1049 GMT.
Quake Caused Huge Damage: Japan PM
The massive earthquake that hit Japan Friday has caused extensive damage, said Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
The prime minister said the government would make every effort to deal with the impact of the earthquake that measured 8.9 on the Richter scale and triggered waves of tsunamis.
"Our government will make all-out efforts to minimize the damage caused by the earthquake," Xinhua quoted Kan as saying.
The government has set up a task force to deal with the quake, Kan said as he noted that the temblor has caused extensive damage.
He said so far there was no problem with nuclear power plants. Initial reports said that six people had been killed.
No Tsunami Threat to India
There is no threat of tsunami along the Indian coast, officials said Thursday after a massive earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami in Japan.
"There is no tsunami threat to India and people should not panic," Shailesh Nayak, ministry of earth sciences secretary, told IANS.
Nayak said the tsunami warnings have been issued to east Asian countries and not in the Indian Ocean.
Following the 2004 tsunami, India in 2007 had set up a tsunami warning centre run by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad under the ministry of earth sciences.
A massive earthquake measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale hit Japan early Thursday, triggering tsunamis as high as 10 metres that slammed the far east country's coastal areas. There was no immediate estimate of casualties.
The earthquake struck off Japan's northeastern coast, forcing people to flee their homes.
Tsunami alerts were issued in the Philippines, Taiwan, Guam and Russia as well as islands in the Pacific, and Indonesia.