Japan confronted devastation along its northeastern coast on Saturday

March 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Daybreak revealed the full extent of damage from Friday's
8.9 magnitude earthquake -- the strongest in Japan since records
began -- and the 10-metre high tsunami it sent surging into
cities and villages, sweeping away everything in its path.   
"This is likely to be a humanitarian relief operation of
epic proportions," said Japan expert Sheila Smith of the
U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations.   
The government warned there could be a radiation leak from
nuclear reactors in Fukushima whose cooling system was knocked
out by the quake. Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordered an evacuation
zone expanded to 10 km (6 miles) from 3 km. Some 3,000 people
had earlier been evacuated.   
"It's possible that radioactive material in the reactor
vessel could leak outside but the amount is expected to be
small, and the wind blowing towards the sea will be considered,"
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.   
As authorities battled to contain rising pressure at the
Fukushima facility, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, officials
called for calm and said a meltdown remained unlikely.   
The unfolding natural disaster prompted offers of search and
rescue help from 50 countries.    
China said rescuers were ready to help with quake relief
while President Barack Obama told Kan the United States would
assist in any way.     
In one of the worst-hit residential areas, people buried
under rubble could be heard calling out for rescue, Kyodo news
agency reported. TV footage showed staff at one hospital waving
banners with the words "FOOD" and "HELP" from a rooftop.   
In Tokyo, office workers who were stranded in the city after
the quake forced the subway system to close early slept
alongside the homeless at one station. Scores of men in suits
lay on newspapers, using their briefcases as pillows.   
Kyodo said at least 116,000 people in Tokyo had been unable
to return home on Friday evening due to transport disruption.   
 The northeastern Japanese city of Kesennuma, with a
population of 74,000, was hit by widespread fires and one-third
of the city was under water, Jiji news agency said on Saturday.   
The airport in the city of Sendai, home to one million
people, was on fire, it added.       
TV footage from Friday showed a muddy torrent of water
carrying cars and wrecked homes at high speed across farmland
near Sendai, 300 km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Ships had
been flung onto a harbour wharf, where they lay helplessly on
their side.    Boats, cars and trucks were tossed around like toys in the
water after the tsunami hit the town of Kamaishi. Kyodo news
agency reported that contact had been lost with four trains in
the coastal area.    
Japanese politicians pushed for an emergency budget to fund
relief efforts after Kan asked them to "save the country", Kyodo
reported. Japan is already the most heavily indebted major
economy in the world, meaning any funding efforts would be
closely scrutinised by financial markets.   
Domestic media said the death toll was expected to exceed
1,000, most of whom appeared to have drowned by churning waters.   
Even in a nation accustomed to earthquakes, the devastation
was shocking.     
"A big area of Sendai city near the coast, is flooded. We
are hearing that people who were evacuated are stranded," said
Rie Sugimoto, a reporter for NHK television in Sendai.     
"About 140 people, including children, were rushed to an
elementary school and are on the rooftop but they are surrounded
by water and have nowhere else to go."   
Japan prides itself on its speedy tsunami warning system,
which has been upgraded several times since its inception in
1952, including after a 7.8 magnitude quake triggered a 30-metre
high wave before a warning was given.       
FIRES ACROSS THE COAST   
The quake, the most powerful since Japan started keeping
records 140 years ago, sparked at least 80 fires in cities and
towns along the coast, Kyodo said.    "I was unable stay on my feet because of the violent
shaking. The aftershocks gave us no reprieve. Then the tsunami
came when we tried to run for cover. It was the strongest quake
I experienced," a woman with a baby on her back told television
in northern Japan.       
Other nuclear power plants and oil refineries were shut down
and one refinery was ablaze. Power to millions of homes and
businesses was knocked out. Several airports, including Tokyo's
Narita, were closed and rail services halted. All ports were
shut.     
The central bank said it would cut short a two-day policy
review scheduled for next week to one day on Monday and promised
to do its utmost to ensure financial market stability.
The disaster struck as the world's third-largest economy had
been showing signs of reviving from an economic contraction in
the final quarter of last year. It raised the prospect of major
disruptions for many key businesses and a massive repair bill
running into tens of billions of dollars.     
The tsunami alerts revived memories of the giant waves that
struck Asia in 2004.    
Warnings were issued for countries to the west of Japan and
across the Pacific as far away as Colombia and Peru, but the
tsunami dissipated as it sped across the ocean and worst fears
in the Americas were not realised.    
The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world
in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kanto quake of Sept.
1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than
140,000 people in the Tokyo area.    
The 1995 Kobe quake caused $100 billion in damage and was
the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage
from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10
billion.   


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