Magnitude 9.0 Earthquake Strikes Japan - 1 of 2

TOKYO — A magnitude 9.0 earthquake — the biggest in modern Japanese history — slammed the island nation's eastern coast Friday afternoon, unleashing a 23-foot tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland and prompting a "nuclear emergency."

Hours later, the tsunami reached Hawaii, with initial reports citing little damage. Warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

According to Japanese police, 200 to 300 bodies were found in Sendai, the coastal city closest to the epicenter. Another 137 people were confirmed killed, with 531 missing. At least 627 people were injured.

TV footage taken from a military plane showed fires engulfing a large waterfront area in northeastern Japan. Houses and other buildings were ablaze across large swathes of land in Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture, near Sendai. The city, with a population of 74,000, has residential, light industry and fishing areas.

According to reports, police told the Kyodo news agency that a passenger train with an unknown number of people aboard was missing in one coastal area.

The government ordered thousands of residents near a nuclear power plant in Onahama to evacuate because the plant's cooling system failed and pressure inside the reactor is rising. The reactor's core remained hot even after a shutdown, and a radiation leak was seen as possible. The plant is 170 miles northeast of Tokyo.

The Defense Ministry dispatched dozens of troops trained to deal with chemical disaster to the plant in case of a radiation leak.

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[Pianoyappa]

S.O.S

Me and my parents are stuck in Miyagi Prefecture, we survived the earthquake and we are in a relief center but water and food supply is about to finish, we only have some of our documents with us. Please if anybody can help us with information of Government support to go back to the U.S

Thank you.

[bluesrock2008]

This is a terrible thing that happened! My heart goes out to the families of those who died...

[Pianoyappa]

@bagadonuts112294 You're right, nobody deserves a disaster of any sort. But by killing whales and dolphins, which are proven by some researchers to be almost like humans, and many other things, they are leaving the doors open for a chance to get any kind of disaster in this case an earthquake and tsunami. You are treated the way you treat others.

[Pianoyappa]

@sukebegaijin1 Thank you for the advise, that's exactly what we did we found out about US chartered buses going to Narita Airport, stayed there for 5days and got a cheap ticket back to the US. Thanks again for your support.

[Pianoyappa]

@Brightstarblog7 Yes we did thank you. We were lucky enough to get on the last US Embassy chartered bus to Narita Airport. Though we stayed there for about 5days we finally found a cheap ticket back to the US. Thanks for your concern.

[BLACKDARTH1225]

this is devestating m =(

[bagadonuts112294]

@sandile84 No thats not true, thats just fucked up. Nobody ever deserves a natural disaster. The world needs to be fed and Id much rather see whales and dolphins die than innocent humans.

[neiderlaander]

forget your reasons. None of you know what caused this outside of an earthquake. Kill the debate and actually do something to help. My hope and caring goes out to everyone who is subject to this event.

[GameVidLive]

@sandile84 Fuck you.

It doesn't matter about whales, Or dolphans. Noone realy CARES about them atm.

They DON'T deserve it because of whale wars or any other shit, They need it for natural resources.

[Brightstarblog7]

@Pianoyappa

did you get help ? God bless you

[sandile84]

Japan deserves what it is getting, it's all karma because Japan kills thousands upon thousands of innocent whales and dolphins on our oceans. The world keeps telling them not to do it but they don't listen.