| By Al Jazeera Staff in | on March 12th, 2011. |
Blog: Mar11-12
(All times are local in Japan GMT+9)
Pope Benedict XVI says he's praying for the quake and tsunami victims and in his traditional Sunday blessing, he praised the "dignity and courage" with which the Japanese are coping with the tragedy.
Benedict also encouraged aid workers who are bringing comfort to those afflicted, saying God was with them.
PM Kan also said the current situation is the worst crisis Japan has experienced since the end of the Second World War.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the nuclear crisis is not the same as the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
"Radiation has been released in the air, but there are no reports that a large amount was released," Jiji news agency quoted him as saying. "This is fundamentally different from the Chernobyl accident. We are working to prevent damage from spreading."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano, in a broadcast news conference, says reactor 3 might be showing some "failure" which has to be solved and air pressure has to be lowered.
"Currently, the radiation monitor hasn't showed any change, "he said.
"A short while ago, they started seawater injection into the reactor" and the level of water has been rising, he said, "but it seems that the gage is not showing the water is going up."
Japan's biggest instant noodle maker Nissin says it will deliver 1 million packets to victimsin the northeast
Nissin Foods Holdings Co. Ltd. said it will also deliver "kitchen cars." These are vehicles equipped with gas-powered kitchenettes and running water for cooking noodles.
The Japanese government has increased the number of troops to be deployed to the disaster zone to 100,000.
"They're sending in all available resources, to try and rescue and bring relief to people who've been trapped by the earthquake and the ensuing tsunami," Al Jazeera's Shakuntala Santhiran, in Tokyo, said.
"It's proving very difficult with the blocked roads and also many aftershocks."
Dr Ilham al-Qaradawi, a professor of nuclear physics at Qatar University, says the possible meltdown in the Fakushima facility does not necessarily have to become dangerous.
"The meltdown means that the heat has been so great that parts of the core of the reactor has started to melt or be damaged by the heat. It does not necessarily mean it's becoming dangerous because it depends on how this is going to be contained by the containment of the reactor.
"It could be that the reactor core could be completely damaged but there is no release of radioactivity and that's the important part."
A Japanese man who was swept 15km out to sea by the tsunami has been plucked to safety after being spotted clinging to a piece of wreckage.
60-year-old Hiromitsu Shinkawa was swept away along with his house on Friday and was rescued earlier today off Fukushima prefecture.
"I ran away after learning that the tsunami was coming," Shinkawa told rescuers according to Jiji Press.
"But I turned back to pick up something at home, when I was washed away. I was rescued while I was hanging to the roof from my house."
About 2.5 million people across Japan are without electricity and at least a million households have gone without water since the quake struck.
More astonishing footage has emerged of the moment the tsunami slammed into Japan's coastline. Houses were being crushed like tin cans and cars washed away by the massive wave.
NHK television quotes a police chief as saying more than 10,000 are feared dead in Miyagi prefecture. Our correspondent Wayne Hay, on the ground in Miyagi, said earlier that some buildings in the port town of Minamisanriku were moved 3km by the tsunami.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano warns of the risk of a second explosion at the Fukushima plant, but says reactor 3 could withstand it as reactor 1 did yesterday.
"There is the possibility of an explosion in the third reactor, as in the case of the first reactor," he said, adding there would be no effect on the health of nearby residents.
- The Japanese Meteorological Agency says that there is a 70 per cent chance of a major aftershock in the next three days of a magnitude of 7 or more.
This line just dropped from AP: "Japanese government spokesman warns of fresh threat from
explosion at another nuclear unit". We'll of course let you know when we find out more. Don't forget that you can also watch our live stream.Harry Fawcett wraps up the latest developments in Fukishima, where thousands are sheltering in evacuation centres.
AP news agency quotes police saying they have found another 200 bodies in Miyagi.
The total death toll keeps changing as more bodies are recovered. One of the latest reports said 1,000 people are confirmed dead and hundreds more are missing.
CNN quotes experts saying the earthquake appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 2.4m and shifted the Earth on its axis.
Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 10cm.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has revised the magnitude of Friday's earthquake to 9.0, up from 8.9.
Our correspondent Steve Chao was just reporting live for us in the town of Natori, where smashed cars and rubble are littered across big swathes of land. He says many bodies have been pulled out since floodwaters receded but there is yet no official count of the dead and injured. There is no electricity and phone lines are disrupted.
Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from Motomiya, not far from the quake-hit nuclear plants in Fukushima, says residents are queuing up at local supermarkets, stocking up on food, and flocking to petrol stations to fill up the tanks ahead of any possible emergency.
The Associated Press agency reports that the Japanese authorities have said another reactor at the quake-hit nuclear plant was in trouble after its cooling system also failed.
"All the functions to keep cooling water levels in No. 3 reactor have failed at the Fukushima No. 1 plant," plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said, adding that pressure was rising slightly.More on the danger posed by that second developing problem at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. A Tokyo Electric Power Co spokesman said:
All the functions to keep cooling water levels in No.3 reactor have failed at the Fukushima No.1 plant.
As of 5:30am, water injection stopped and inside pressure is rising slightly.
An emergency report on the plant's condition has been filed with the government, he added.
AFP says the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, where a second reactor system is overheating, says there is a risk of a second explosion. We'll keep you updated right here.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission are sending a pair of its people to Japan. Chairman Gregory Jaczko said:
We have some of the most expert people in this field in the world working for the NRC and we stand ready to assist in any way possible.
The NRC is an independent agency mandated by Congress to regulate commercial nuclear power plants and other nuclear materials in the US, and said the pair were experts in boiling water nuclear reactors and were part of a broader US aid team sent to the disaster zone.
Yesterday, we reported that three people had tested positive for elevated radiation levels. That number has now jumped to 160, says a Japanese nuclear safety official.
Fukushima nuclear plant - where a huge explosion yesterday blew the outer walls and roof off the No.1 reactor building - faces a new problem.
The emergency cooling system of No.3 reactor has now also stopped working, the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has announced.
Sea water is being pumped into the No.1 reactor chamber to cool its fuel rods - and officials are scrambling to secure a means of of supplying water to the No.3 reactor.
First it was 6,000 - then 45,000... Now about 140,000 people have been told to evacuate areas near the two Fukushima nuclear power plants following Friday's earthquake, said the UN atomic watchdog. The International Atomic Energy Agency said:
Evacuations around both affected nuclear plants have begun ... but full evacuation measures have not been completed.
After the devastating earthquake off the coast of north-east Japan damaged the cooling system of several reactors at Fukushima's nuclear power facility, a large explosion appears to have blown the external walls and roof off one of the reactor buildings.
Al Jazeera's Sonia Gallego reports on what this means for the safety of the plant - and of the thousands of people who live nearby. Watch the footage of the explosion, and an explanation of what happened - and might happen next - below.Welcome to our new liveblog for March 13, keeping you up to date with the latest from Japan and around the Pacific Rim. If you've missed out on anything, catch up with the previous days' blog, which covers everything that's happened since the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck, by clicking here.
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