T

JAPAN

E H
IS

R O
TI AR CL E BY SO F IE OL OF O SS N
PH TO O BY M O RG UE FI LE

D L

th s rth ar ha ea l e an trigfu is, es er beg st, ow s oa . am an t p ord t c mi un rric os rec eas na ts m e h- tsu hu ns inc nort ive & pa s s Ja ake the as m k qu uc a str ring e
PAGE 44

sure, but that there would be no health risk. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier said the US Air Force had flown emergency coolant to the site.But US officials later said no coolant had been handed over because the Japanese had decided to handle the situation thems e l v e s . T h e U N s n u c l e a r agency said four nuclear power plants had shut d o w n s a f e l y. M e a s u r e d a t 8.9 by the US Geological S u r v e y, i t s t r u c k a t 1 4 4 6 local time (0546 GMT) at a depth of about 24km. THE TSUNAMI ROLLED ACROSS the Pacific at 800km/h (500mph) - as fast as a jetliner - before hitting Hawaii and the US West Coast, but there were no reports of major damage from those regions.Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate

the Philippines, Australia and China. S T R O N G WAV E S H I T J A PA N S M i y a g i a n d F u k u shima prefectures, damaging dozens of coastal communities.A 10m wave struck Sendai, deluging farmland and sweeping c a r s a c r o s s t h e a i r p o r t s r u n w a y. F i r e s b r o k e o u t i n t h e c e n t r e o f t h e c i t y. J A PA N S N H K T E L E V I S I O N SHOWED a massive surge of debris-filled water reaching far inland, consuming houses, cars and ships.Motorists could be seen trying to speed away f r o m t h e w a l l o f w a t e r. I n other developments:

ARS, SHIPS AND BUILDINGS were swept away by a

wall of water after the 8 . 9 - m a g n i t u d e t r e m o r, which struck about 400km (250 miles) north-east of To k y o . A s t a t e o f e m e r gency has been declared at a nuclear power plant, where pressure has exceeded normal levels. Officials say 350 people are dead and about 500 missing, but it is feared

es ak qu

IS A
m u c h h i g h e r.

RY RY NG ANG S A IS RY Y I RY G GR G AN AN AN IS IS Y IS RY GR NG AN IS A

NG RY
people living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant have been ordered to evacuate.Japanese nuclear officials said pressure inside a boiling water reactor at the plant was running much higher than normal after the cooling system failed. OFFICIALS SAID THEY MIGHT need to deliberately release some radioactive steam to relieve pres-

IS

AN

FOUR TRAINS are missing along the coast, says Japan Railways; and a ship carrying 100 people was swept away

Y GR

FIRE has engulfed swathes of the coast in Miyagi prefectures Kesennuma city, onethird of which is reportedly under water

the final death toll will be

coastal areas in the states of California, Oregon and Washington.The biggest waves of more than 6-7ft (about 2m) were recorded n e a r C a l i f o r n i a s C r e s c e n t C i t y , s a i d t h e P a c i f i c Ts u nami War ning Centre.A tsunami warning extended across the Pacific to North and South America, where many other coastal regions were evacuated, but the alert was later lifted in most parts, including

A major EXPLOSION hit a petrochemical plant in Sendai; further south a huge blaze swept an oil refinery in Ichihara city, Chiba prefecture Some 1,800 HOMES are reported to have been DESTROYED in the city of Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture A DAM BURST in north-eastern Fukushima prefecture, sweeping away homes, Kyodo news agency reports

IN ONE WARD ALONE in Sendai, a port city in Miyagi prefecture, 200 to 300 bodies were found. The quake was the fifthlargest in the world since 1900 and nearly 8,000 times stronger than the one which devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, said scientists.Thousands of

PAGE 45