Japan struggled to come to terms with the devastation caused by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the country as international concern focused on the state of affected nuclear power plants and the possibility of a radiation leak.
The quake triggered a tsunami that devastated parts of Japan’s north-eastern coast and set off warnings as far away as California and Chile. A wall of water washed over coastal towns, carrying whole communities with it. Domestic media said the death toll was expected to exceed 1,000 people.
At the Fukushima Daiichi plant, some 240km north of Tokyo, the authorities were struggling to stop pressure rising in one of six reactors.
According to Japan’s nuclear and industrial safety agency, the level of radiation at the damaged reactor was “1,000 times higher than normal”. Kyodo News reported that radiation levels near the main gate of the plant were measured at more than eight times normal levels. The plant’s operator began venting gas Saturday morning to reduce pressure, according to wire reports.
Officials said radiation released with the gas would not be dangerous, but the area of evacuation around the reactor was widened from 3km to 10km, while the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was seeking further details on the situation.
Problems were also emerging at a second plant, Fukushima Daini, about 11km away. Tokyo Electric Power, which owns the plant, said it had lost the ability to control pressure in some of the reactors.
In Sendai, a north-east city of 1m closest to the undersea quake’s epicentre, power remained cut off late on Friday.
The pitch dark was broken only by fires at a burning oil refinery. Video from a military helicopter showed much of Kesennuma, a community of 70,000 near Sendai, engulfed in flames. Local police were reported to have found the bodies of hundreds of people drowned by the tsunami.
The earthquake, which struck just before 3pm local time, damaged buildings and knocked out transport and communications across the world’s third-largest economy.
In the capital, the aerial atop Tokyo Tower – the orange, Eiffel-shaped landmark – was left bent by the force of the tremor.
“This is a big one,” Atsushi Saito, the 71-year-old president of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, told the Financial Times as the quake struck. “I think this is the worst earthquake I’ve felt.”
“It was terrifying,” added Mohan Nadig, an American lawyer in Tokyo who ran down 37 flights of stairs to safety. “I imagine it was like being in the hull of a vessel that has just been torpedoed.”
In the capital and other cities, commuters were stranded by cancelled trains as aftershocks reverberated across the country. Office workers marched out of business districts on foot, stocking up on bottled water, sandwiches and rice balls at convenience stores for the long walk home. Others prepared to spend the night in their offices. But it was in Sendai and adjacent coastal areas that the impact was strongest.
Sendai airport was an island, more than a thousand passengers and workers stranded on the terminal roof.
The images raised fears that the death toll could mount, especially with the impact on remote coastal communities not yet fully assessed.
Japan’s biggest disaster in at least 15 years poses a big challenge to a nation beset by economic uncertainty and widespread public dissatisfaction in its elected representatives.
The government’s initial response to the disaster appeared calm and competent.
Authorities quickly turned their focus to the economy, and are looking at whether to assemble a supplementary budget to fund relief efforts, a finance ministry official said.
The Bank of Japan will hold a policy board meeting on Monday, raising expectations of extraordinary action to support the economy.
日本历史上最强烈的地震及其引发的海啸在该国造成了巨大人员伤亡和建筑损毁，而国际社会正将担忧的目光投向受损的几座核反应堆，担心在那里可能发生核泄漏。
地震引发的海啸摧毁了日本东北部的部分海岸，在遥远的美国加州和智利也触发了海啸警报。像高墙一样的潮水涌入沿岸城镇，将一个又一个社区整个卷走。日本官方周六早晨表示，死亡人数已经超过一千人，而这个数字肯定会继续上升。
在首都东京以北240公里的福岛第一核电站(Fukushima Daiichi)，六座核反应堆中有一座受损，导致内部压力急剧上升，当地政府正在艰难试图为其降压。
日本负责核工业安全的政府部门表示，这座受损核反应堆内部的辐射程度“比正常水品高1千倍”。据日本共同通讯社(Kyodo News Agency)报道，这个核电厂大门附近的辐射水平大约是正常水平的8倍。据报道，这家核电厂周六早晨已经开始向往排放气体减压。
官员们表示，与气体一起排出的辐射不具危害性，但扩大了核工厂外部的疏散区，半径从3公里扩展至10公里。国际原子能机构表示，它正在寻求更多细节。
11公里外的福岛第三核电站(Fukushima Daini)也出现了问题。拥有这座核电站的日本东京电力公司(Tokyo Electric Power)称，公司失去了控制其中几座反应堆内部压力的能力。
在日本东北最靠近震中位置的仙台市，周五深夜时，电力仍然没有恢复供应。
浓重的夜色里只有一座燃烧的炼油厂发出光芒。一架军用直升机航拍的画面显示，仙台附近、人口7万的气仙沼市(Kesennuma)几乎被火焰吞没。据报道，当地警方已经找到几百具在海啸中溺毙的人的尸体。
地震发生在日本时间周五近午3点时。强烈的震动在日本全境内造成了房屋毁坏、交通瘫痪和通信中断。
“这是个大地震，”东京证交所首席执行官、71岁的齐藤惇(Atsushi Saito)告诉英国《金融时报》。“我觉得这是我经历过的最大的一次。”
“很可怕，”美国律师Mohan Nadig说。地震发生时，他跑了37段台阶到达安全地方。“我觉得当时就好像在一艘船的肚子里，而船被鱼类击中了。”
随着余震继续不断发生，许多火车班次被取消，在东京和其他城市造成大量旅客滞留。写字楼里的人们从楼里步行出来，在便利店大量购买瓶装水、三明治和饭团，为长途步行回家做准备。一些人准备在办公室过夜。但受地震影响最大的，还是仙台市和附近的沿海地区。
仙台机场地处内陆，大约一千名旅客和工作人员被困在航站楼屋顶。
这个画面让人们担心，死亡人数可能会继续上升。而人们尚不清楚这次地震对更加遥远的一些沿海社区的影响。 |
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