Tsunami tragedy hits: Japan
Japan faces the devastation along its northeastern coast on Saturday, with raging fires and parts of some cities under water after an earthquake and tsunami that probably killed more than 1,000 people.
Dawn is expected to reveal the scale of death and damage of the earthquake of magnitude 8.9 on Friday and tsunami 10 meters high stands posted to the cities and villages, destroying everything in its path.
In one of the worst affected residential areas, people buried under the rubble was heard yelling "help" and "when will we be rescued," the Kyodo news agency.
The government warned it could be a small leakage of radiation from a nuclear reactor cooling system was eliminated by the quake. Prime Minister Naoto Kan, has ordered an evacuation zone around the plant was extended to 10 km (6 miles) of 3 km. About 3,000 people had been previously out of the woods.
Underlining concerns about the plant in Fukushima, 240 km (150 miles) north of
Tokyo, U.S. officials said Japan had asked for coolant to avoid a temperature increase of nuclear rods, but ultimately handled it on their own. Authorities said a leak was still possible because the pressure would be released.
The unfolding disaster aid to bid for search and rescue of 45 countries.China said rescuers were ready to help with earthquake relief as President Barack Obama said Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan United States would help in any way.
"It is likely that this is a humanitarian aid operation of epic proportions," wrote the Japan expert Sheila Smith of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations in a commentary.
The Japanese city of Kesennuma northeast, with a population of 74,000, was beaten by widespread fires and a third of the city was under water, Jiji news agency said Saturday.
Airport Sendai City, home to one million people, was on fire, he added.
Television footage on Friday showed a torrent of muddy water transport vehicles and shattered homes at high speed through farmland near Sendai, 300 kilometers (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Ships had been dumped on a pier of the port, where they lay on their side helplessly.
Boats, cars and trucks were tossed around like toys in the water after a small tsunami hit the city of Kamaichi in northern Japan. Kyodo news agency reported that contact was lost with four trains in the coastal zone.
Japanese politicians pushed for an emergency budget to finance relief efforts after Kan asked to "save the country," Kyodo news agency. Japan is already the leading world's most indebted economy, ie, any funding effort would be closely watched by financial markets.
National media said the death toll is expected to exceed 1,000, most of which appear to have been drowned by the swirling waters.
The magnitude of destruction along a stretch along the coast suggested the death toll could rise significantly.
Even in a country accustomed to earthquakes, the devastation was shocking.
"A large area of the city of Sendai, near the coast, floods. We're hearing that people who were evacuated are trapped," said Rie Sugimoto, an NHK reporter in Sendai.
"About 140 people, including children, were taken to an elementary school and found on the roof, but are surrounded by water and have nowhere to go."
Japan has prided itself on its rapid alert system for tsunamis, which has been updated several times since its creation in 1952, even after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake triggered a wave of 30 meters before it was given a warning.
The country has also built numerous dams and floodgates to protect ports and coastal areas, but experts said it could not have been enough to avoid disasters like the one that struck on Friday.
In Tokyo, many residents had fled in the early buildings swaying stayed in their offices after the shut down public transport. Many Tokyo subway later resumed operation, but the trains do not run.
"I was unable to stand due to violent shaking. Aftershocks gave us no respite. Then the tsunami came when they tried to run for cover. It was the strongest earthquake I experienced, "a woman with a baby on her back said on television in northern Japan.
FIRE THROUGH THE COAST
The quake, the strongest since Japan began keeping records 140 years ago, caused at least 80 fires in cities and towns along the coast, Kyodo said.
Other Japanese nuclear power plants and refineries were shut down and a refinery was on fire.
Auto plants, electronics factories and refineries closed, roads belt and the power of millions of homes and businesses were eliminated. Several airports, including Narita in Tokyo, were closed and there is no rail services. All ports were closed.
The central bank said it broke a policy review scheduled for two days next week to a day on Monday and vowed to do everything possible to ensure financial market stability.
The disaster occurred as the third largest economy had been showing signs of recovery from an economic contraction in the fourth quarter of last year. The possibility of major disruptions for many key business and a repair bill of mass tens of billions of dollars.
The tsunami alert revived memories of the giant waves that hit Asia in 2004.
The warnings were issued for countries in western Japan and the Pacific as far away as Colombia and Peru, but the tsunami was dissipated as it accelerated through the ocean and the Americas worst fears were not realized.
The earthquake was the fifth most powerful that has beaten the world in the last century.
"The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom took their helmets and some put on their desks," said Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg in Tokyo. "It was probably the worst I've felt since I arrived in Japan for over 20 years."
The earthquake exceeds the Great Kanto earthquake of September 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.
The Kobe earthquake in 1995 caused $ 100 billion in damage and was the most expensive natural disaster in history. The economic damage from the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean was estimated at about $ 10 billion. Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the most seismically active areas of the world.
