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Quake, tsunami devastate Japan
RECORD BREAKER:Following the largest quake to ever hit
Japan, countries as far away as Colombia and Peru were bracing for a massive
tidal wave to hit
Reuters, TOKYO
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An oil refinery is engulfed in flames in Chiba
City, Chiba Prefecture, yesterday, after a magnitude 8.9 earthquake hit northern
Japan earlier in the day.
Photo: EPA
The biggest earthquake on record to hit Japan rocked the northeast coast on
Friday, triggering a 10m high tsunami that killed hundreds of people and swept
away everything in its path, including houses, ships and cars.
The Red Cross in Geneva said the wall of water was higher than some Pacific
islands and a tsunami warning was issued for almost the entire Pacific basin,
although alerts were lifted for some countries, including Taiwan, Australia and
New Zealand.
Up to 300 bodies were found in the coastal city of Sendai, media said. NHK
television said the victims appeared to have drowned. The extent of the
destruction along a lengthy stretch of coastline suggested the death toll could
rise significantly.
The magnitude 8.9 quake, the most powerful since Japan started keeping records
140 years ago, also caused many injuries and sparked fires while the tsunami
prompted warnings for people to move to higher ground in coastal areas.
Domestic news agencies said a radioactive leak was possible at a nuclear plant
in Fukushima Prefecture, north of Tokyo, and about 3,000 residents were told to
evacuate the area. Some nuclear power plants and oil refineries were shut down
and a refinery was ablaze.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told politicians they needed to ¡§save the
country¡¨ after the disaster, which he said had caused widespread damage to
swathes of the country¡¦s north.
The quake split a highway near Tokyo and flattened several buildings in the
northeast, and a train was unaccounted in a coastal area hit by the tsunami.
A ship carrying 100 people was swept away by the tsunami, Kyodo news agency
said, and TV footage showed the roiling waters, blackened with debris, some of
it ablaze, sweeping away homes, cars and bringing ships inland.
There were reports of at least 80 fires after the quake, Kyodo said.
Around 4.4 million homes were without power in northern Japan, media said. A
hotel collapsed in the city of Sendai and people were feared buried in the
rubble.
Electronics giant Sony Corp, one of the country¡¦s biggest exporters, shut six
factories, as air force jets raced toward the northeast coast to determine the
extent of the damage.
The Bank of Japan, which has been struggling to boost the anemic economy, said
it would do its utmost to ensure financial market stability as the yen and
Japanese shares fell.
¡§I was terrified and I¡¦m still frightened,¡¨ said Hidekatsu Hata, 36, the manager
of a Chinese noodle restaurant in Tokyo, where buildings shook violently. ¡§I¡¦ve
never experienced such a big quake before.¡¨
The Philippines and Indonesia issued tsunami alerts, reviving memories of the
giant tsunami which struck Asia in 2004.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued alerts for countries to the west and
across the Pacific as far away as Colombia and Peru.
The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century
and there were several strong aftershocks.
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A wave slams into residences after a powerful
earthquake in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture, in Japan yesterday.
Photo: Reuters/Kyodo
In Tokyo, there was widespread panic. An oil refinery near the city was on fire,
with dozens of storage tanks under threat.
TV footage showed a muddy wall of water carrying debris across a large swathe of
coastal farmland near the city of Sendai, which has a population of 1 million.
Ships in one coastal area were lifted from the sea into a harbor where they lay
helplessly on their side.
Sendai is 300km northeast of Tokyo and the epicenter at sea was not far away.
NHK TV 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.
Thick smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama¡¦s Isogo area.
TV showed residents running out of shaking buildings, shielding their heads with
their hands from falling masonry.
TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks tossed around like toys in the water
after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. Kyodo said
there were reports of fires in Sendai where waves carried cars across the runway
at the airport.
The US navy said its ships were unaffected by the tsunami and were ready to
provide disaster relief if needed. China offered to provide earthquake relief.
The quake struck just before the Tokyo stock market closed, pushing the Nikkei
down to end at a five-week low. Nikkei futures trading in Osaka tumbled as much
as 4.7 percent in reaction to the news.
The quake was the biggest since records began 140 years ago, according to the
Japan Meteorological Agency. 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 Tokyo.
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.
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