The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on Friday could reach as high as 10,000 as rescue continue in the search for survivors.
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake triggered an enormous tsunami that peaked at over 10m high and swept inland, swallowing everything in its path.
More than 400,000 people had been forced to flee the quake's giant swath of destruction — more than a quarter of them refugees from the area surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo. The crisis intensified as officials reported three of the Fukushima complex's six reactors were in trouble, and emergency measures were being taken to cool them.
State broadcaster NHK said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water hit, reducing whole towns to rubble. The tsunami surged through coastal towns in the Miagi region, including the main city of Sendai where it picked up entire buildings, cars and trucks, and other equipment as it rushed inland, obliterating everything in its path.
The Kyodo news agency, which said the number of dead or unaccounted was expected to exceed 2,000, reported that there had been no contact with around 10,000 people in one town, more than half its population.
Ships were dumped in residential streets, cars deposited on roof tops, and entire structures moved several kilometres as floodwaters relentlessly savaged the area.
Thousands were evacuated on Saturday following an explosion and leak from the facility's No. 1 reactor in Fukushima, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo. Engineers were pumping in seawater, trying to prevent the same thing from happening at the No. 3 reactor, the government said in apparent acknowledgement that it had moved too slowly on Saturday.
"Unlike the No.1 reactor, we ventilated and injected water at an early stage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news briefing.
Asked if fuel rods were partially melting in the No. 1 reactor, Edano said: "There is that possiblity. We cannot confirm this because it is in the reactor. But we are dealing with it under that assumption."
He said fuel rods may have partially deformed at the No. 3 reactor but a meltdown was unlikely to have occurred.
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake triggered an enormous tsunami that peaked at over 10m high and swept inland, swallowing everything in its path.
More than 400,000 people had been forced to flee the quake's giant swath of destruction — more than a quarter of them refugees from the area surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant, 150 miles north of Tokyo. The crisis intensified as officials reported three of the Fukushima complex's six reactors were in trouble, and emergency measures were being taken to cool them.
State broadcaster NHK said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water hit, reducing whole towns to rubble. The tsunami surged through coastal towns in the Miagi region, including the main city of Sendai where it picked up entire buildings, cars and trucks, and other equipment as it rushed inland, obliterating everything in its path.
The Kyodo news agency, which said the number of dead or unaccounted was expected to exceed 2,000, reported that there had been no contact with around 10,000 people in one town, more than half its population.
Ships were dumped in residential streets, cars deposited on roof tops, and entire structures moved several kilometres as floodwaters relentlessly savaged the area.
Thousands were evacuated on Saturday following an explosion and leak from the facility's No. 1 reactor in Fukushima, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo. Engineers were pumping in seawater, trying to prevent the same thing from happening at the No. 3 reactor, the government said in apparent acknowledgement that it had moved too slowly on Saturday.
"Unlike the No.1 reactor, we ventilated and injected water at an early stage," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news briefing.
Asked if fuel rods were partially melting in the No. 1 reactor, Edano said: "There is that possiblity. We cannot confirm this because it is in the reactor. But we are dealing with it under that assumption."
He said fuel rods may have partially deformed at the No. 3 reactor but a meltdown was unlikely to have occurred.
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