news of terrible tsunami injapan

Tokyo:  Rescuers struggled to reach survivors on Saturday morning as Japan reeled after an earthquake and a tsunami struck in deadly tandem. The 8.9-magnitude earthquake set off a devastating tsunami that sent walls of water washing over coastal cities in the north. Concerns mounted over possible radiation leaks from two nuclear plants near the earthquake zone.

The death toll from the tsunami and earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, was in the hundreds, but Japanese news media quoted government officials as saying that it could rise to more than 1,300, most of them drowned. About 200 to 300 bodies were found along the waterline in Sendai, a port city in northeastern Japan and the closest major city to the epicenter.

Thousands of homes were destroyed, many roads were impassable, trains and buses were not running, and power and cellphones remained down. On Saturday morning, the JR rail company said that there were three trains missing in parts of two northern prefectures.

While the loss of life and property may yet be considerable, many lives were certainly saved by Japan's extensive disaster preparedness and strict construction codes. Japan's economy was spared a more devastating blow because the earthquake hit far from its industrial heartland.

Japanese officials on Saturday issued broad evacuation orders for people living in the vicinity of two separate nuclear power plants that had experienced breakdowns in their cooling systems as a result of the earthquake, and they warned that small amounts of radiation could leak from both plants. Japanese television reported that officials said they had detected cesium near one of the reactors at one of the plants, and The Associated Press quoted a nuclear safety official as saying a meltdown was possible at that reactor.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/japan-tsunami-toll-could-rise-to-more-than-1-300-91156?cp

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/japan-tsunami-toll-could-rise-to-more-than-1-300-91156?cp