Swept away by the tsunami: Over 10,000 people missing caused by megaquake
Mtoday news / Mail
Japan, March 12: The death toll in the massive Japan earthquake and tsunami is set to rise after government officials revealed 9,500 people are still unaccounted for in the north eastern port of Minamisanriku.
The official figure currently stands at 574 but there are fears hundreds more were buried in the rubble or washed away by the waves.
Rescue teams have been unable to reach some areas after the 8.9-magnitude quake destroyed roads and cut off airports on the country’s east coast.
And there were fears of a nuclear meltdown after an explosion in a building housing one of the Fukushima Dai-ichi’s reactors destroyed the walls.
* Nearly 10,000 people unaccounted for in north eastern port of Minamisanriku
* Four trains missing since tsunami struck still have not been found
• Town burn furiously as devastation continues into the night
• Death toll expected to exceed 2,000 with many more injured
• State of emergency at nuclear plant after cooling systems fail
• Ship carrying 100 passengers swept away by tsunami
• Physicist describes event as one of history’s ’great quakes’
• Buildings rocked in China’s capital Beijing, 1,500 miles away
• First mammoth quake was followed by seven powerful aftershocks
• Tsunami warning for whole of Pacific
Last night, huge fires burned unabated across large parts of the country as damaged oil refineries and gas works billowed black smoke into the sky.
Half the country was understood to be without power, with four million homes in Tokyo alone being cut off, while the army has been deployed to the quake-hit areas to help relief efforts.
However those relief efforts were hampered by at least 50 reported aftershocks, including a 6.6 magnitude tremor which hit Tokyo and caused already damaged buildings to shake further.
Elsewhere, two high-speed bullet trains were missing alongside a cruise ship carrying 100 passengers that was swept away when the wave hit. One of the trains was reported to be carrying 400 passengers.
A state of emergency was declared at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima after the quake caused the cooling system to fail.
Tonight, the Japanese government confirmed that they would release radioactive vapor to ease high pressure that had built up inside the reactor.
Aftermath: Clouds of grey smoke billow out of an oil refinery, and an inferno burns at its centre, in Chiba following the earthquake
Terrifying: The tsunami slams into the shoreline along Iwanuma in northern Japan after the 8.9 earthquake struck today
Overwhelmed: The tsunami engulfs a residential area in Natori, Miyagi
Between 200 and 300 bodies have been found in Sendai city, while another 151 were confirmed killed, with 547 missing. Police also said 798 people were injured.
The tsunami struck Sendai, which has a population of about one million, on the north east coast early yesterday morning.
It followed the earthquake which hit at 2.46pm local time (0546 GMT) at a depth of six miles, about 80 miles off the eastern coast, Japan’s meteorological agency said. The area is 240 miles (380km) north east of Tokyo.
Japan is better prepared than anywhere else in the world, with its buildings specifically designed to withstand earthquakes, but many were simply swept away.
Muddy tide: Mud and debris caught up in the encroaching tsunami wave that crashed into the Japanese mainland rushes through the tarmac car park at Sendai Airport today
And, with the death toll rising, it is feared thousands more are at risk as the true scale of the devastation, which could total £9billion, becomes apparent.
Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said.
Closed: Sendai Airport in north-east Japan was one of the first places to be swamped by the tsunami that raced inland following the quake
Drivers were seen fleeing the waves on highways close to the coast as the impact of the huge quake swept ashore while the car park at Disneyland in Tokyo was submerged.
Dramatic footage showed the surge washing away cars, a bridge and buildings at the mouth of the Hirose-gawa River, which flows through the centre of Sendai, while a roof caved in at a graduation ceremony in Tokyo.
A large ship swept away by the tsunami rammed directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city in the Miyagi region, according to footage on public broadcaster NHK, and numerous people are believed to have been injured.
A passenger train that was carrying dozens of travellers was unaccounted for prompting fears that it could have been destroyed amid the devastation.
More than four million people are without power and the Japanese army has now been deployed.
Detailed map locating damage caused by a powerful earthquake which struck off Japan on Friday.
Destroyed: Resident clamber through the wreckage of houses in Iwaki, Fukushima, which have been reduced to rubble by the earthquake
Utter devastation: Flames engulf houses in Sendai, Miyagi, after they were swallowed up by enormous waves that swept through Japan after a massive earthquake this morning
The quake struck at a depth of six miles, about 80 miles off the eastern coast, Japan’s meteorological agency said. The area is 240 miles (380km) north east of Tokyo.
Speaking on national television, Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan said: ’I offer my deepest sympathy to the people who have suffered the disaster.
‘Regarding our nuclear facilities, some of the plants have stopped automatically but so far no radioactive material has been confirmed to have been leaked to the outside.
‘Given the situation an emergency disaster response has been set up with myself as the head
‘We will secure the safety of the people of Japan. We ask the people of Japan to continue to be cautious and vigilant. We ask the people of Japan to react calmly.’
The government was preparing to send troops to the quake-hit areas to help relief efforts.
Thirty international search and rescue teams stand ready to go to Japan to provide assistance following a major earthquake, the United Nations said on Friday.