JAPAN’S MOST powerful earthquake in centuries struck yesterday, triggering fires, deadly 10-metre (30ft) waves and tsunami alerts across at least 20 countries. Japanese news sources said the death toll was likely to exceed 1,000.
The massive 8.9-magnitude quake hit the northeast of the country at 2.46pm local time, 373km from Tokyo, while strong aftershocks also hit northwestern Japan.
Near the epicentre and in the worst-hit Miyagi prefecture, 300km from the capital, houses toppled over or collapsed, burying dozens of people. Near the town of Sendai, 200 to 300 bodies were found.
Television footage showed a huge muddy tsunami on the Pacific coast northeast of Tokyo sweeping away cars, homes and farms, killing dozens of people.
Police reported that a ship carrying over 100 people was swept away in the giant tsunami that crashed into the country’s northeast.
Four trains and their passengers were also unaccounted for.
Fire broke out at the Onagawa nuclear plant and at least three other plants were automatically shut down. The government declared a state of emergency – Japan’s first – at the Fukushima No 1 plant after reporting that its cooling system had failed. Radiation at its central control unit has reportedly risen to about 1,000 times the normal level but 3,000 residents had already been evacuated.
A major blast rocked a petrochemical complex in Chiba, outside Tokyo. In one of the worst-hit residential areas, people buried under rubble could be heard calling out “help” and “when are we going to be rescued?”, Kyodo news agency reported.
The northeastern city of Kesennuma, with a population of 74,000, was hit by widespread fires, with one-third of the city submerged.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the quake was the most powerful in the country’s long history of recorded seismic activity, exceeding even the 1923 disaster that levelled much of Tokyo and nearby Yokohama, killing over 100,000 people.
Only the country’s state-of-the-art building and warning systems prevented the death toll from being much higher.
Water also reportedly spilled from pools containing fuel rods at the world’s largest nuclear power plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa in Niigata prefecture, but there were no reports of radioactive leaks there.
The quake shut Japan’s busiest main international airport, brought the capital’s entire train network to a halt and sent thousands of office workers spilling out on to the streets.
At train stations in the centre of Tokyo, thousands of commuters waiting to board trains gasped and clung on to each other or hunkered down as the earthquake struck, rocking platforms and buildings and sending glass showering down.
In business districts, office workers in safety helmets crowded the streets, nervously glancing upwards for falling debris and glass. “It just seemed to go on forever,” said Nahoko Ishii, who was waiting for a train when the shaking began. “I’ve never experienced anything that terrifying in my life.”
Mobile phone networks crashed as millions tried to call family and friends in the minutes and hours after the quake. The yen fell in currency markets immediately afterwards.
Mr Kan appeared live on TV to commiserate with grieving families and ask the public to stay vigilant and keep abreast of TV and radio reports.
Japanese TV reported stories of partially destroyed houses, schools and offices across much of the Pacific coast. The government said four million homes had lost power after the quake, raising concern about the fate of thousands of pensioners in the world’s fastest-ageing society.
The US, South Korea and China all offered to send rescue teams if needed. Japan’s government has already asked the US military in the country for help.
Around Tokyo, millions of workers were stranded by the stalled public transport system and many spent the night in temporary shelters. The city’s convenience stores were asked to open up their facilities to stranded commuters looking for water, toilets or a place to rest.
Mr Kan set up an emergency taskforce, promising that the government would work with “its whole body and soul” to manage the crisis.– (Additional reporting: Reuters)