>Japan Confronts Multiple Crises as Death Toll Climbs

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MINAMISANRIKU, Japan — Japanese authorities struggled to contain new nuclear emergencies on Tuesday and the death toll continued to climb as search teams began reaching towns and seaports that were flattened by last week’s earthquake and tsunami.
The National Police Agency said Tuesday afternoon that 2,478 people have died, and many thousands were still missing. Some 400,000 people were living in makeshift shelters or evacuation centers, officials said. Bitterly cold and windy weather that was pushing into northern Japan was compounding the misery as the region struggled with shortages of food, fuel and water.
An explosion Tuesday morning at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station — the third reactor blast in four days — damaged the vessel containing the nuclear core at reactor No. 2 , government officials said, and there was a growing fear of a catastrophic meltdown. The operator of the plants, Tokyo Electric Power Company, confirmed there had been radiation leaks, that water was being pumped into three overheated reactors and a fire had broken out at a fourth.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan made a nationally televised address on Tuesday morning, imploring people not to panic.
People living within about 12 miles of the reactor complexes at Fukushima were ordered to evacuate, and those within about 20 miles were told to stay indoors and close all windows, doors and vents. If people had laundry hanging outside, the government advised, they should not bring it inside or touch it.
Fears of a deepening nuclear crisis led to panic selling on Tuesday that drove down the Nikkei stock index by 10.6 percent.
The United States Geological Survey revised the magnitude of the earthquake to 9.0, from 8.9, but it was the subsequent tsunami that did the most damage. The initial wave scoured away entire communities, and desperate survivors searched Tuesday for signs of friends and relatives who remained missing.
There was plenty that was missing here in the fishing village of Minamisanriku: the city hall, the hospital, the shipyard, police stations — and 8,000 people.
The tsunami might have crashed most heavily into this town that once was home to more than 17,000. Situated at the back of a mountainous V-shaped cove, the town was swamped by the first surge of muck and seawater that was 30 feet high as it roared between the valley walls.
As the deluge pressed in on them, Sanae Sato, 71, said 400 townspeople rushed to the community center where she worked. They thought the five-story building would be high enough to protect them. But when the water reached the fourth floor, they all sought shelter in the attic, jammed in beside the elevator machinery.
From the attic window, Ms. Sato said, she saw the floodwaters hurling cars along, with drivers and passengers still inside. Houses broke from their foundations and were carried along, their owners perched on the ridges of the roofs.
“I saw people trying to balance on the rooftops like surfers,” she said. “It didn’t work. It was like hell.”
The Miyagi prefectural government said Tuesday that search teams had located 2,000 people in Minamisanriku who had been missing and presumed dead. They had fled to surrounding towns as the tsunami bashed the coastal areas of the town.
Troopers from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces cleared roadways into the village on Tuesday as a long line of fire trucks waited to enter. Closer to shore, teams of searchers rummaged through the crushed houses and collapsed shops. They peered into cars that had been swallowed by the mud, hoping to find survivors. Searched cars were marked with yellow tape.
One gruesome discovery was a mud-caked woman hanging by her head from the roof of a gas station. She was brought down, covered in a blue plastic tarp, and her body was laid by the station to await collection by another disaster team.
Rescue teams from 13 countries pressed on with the searches in other towns, some assisted by dogs. In the air, helicopters shuttled back and forth, part of a mobilization of some 100,000 troops, the largest since World War II.
Because Fukushima have been lost to the national power grid, Tokyo Electric announced plans for rolling blackouts across the region to conserve electricity — the first controlled power cutbacks in Japan in 60 years.
The first set of blackouts Tuesday morning began in four prefectures outside Tokyo. The utility, which provides service to 45 million people in the region, said the cuts could continue for six weeks.
Public conservation of electricity was significant enough, the company said, that the more drastic blackout scenarios were being scaled back. Still, anticipating deep and lengthy power cuts, many people were stocking up on candles, water, instant noodles and batteries for radios.

>Japan earthquake: YouTube news videos show damage, massive tsunami [Updated]

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An 8.9 earthquake has struck Japan, taking the lives of hundreds of people and being followed by a tsunami with frighteningly high tidal waves.
Here’s a bit of video posted by news organizations on YouTube, owned by Google, displaying some of the natural disaster.

Tsunami slams Japanese coast after quake

Giant tsunami eats boat as earthquake hits Japan

Scientist Describes Tsunami Danger

Raw Video: Tsunami reaches Hawaii

RussiaToday is a English-language news channel funded by the Russian government.
On YouTube, the organization describes itself as being “set to show you how any story can be another story altogether. Broadcasting over six continents and 100 countries, our coverage focuses on international headlines, giving an innovative angle set to challenge viewers worldwide.The channel is government-funded but shapes its editorial policy free from political and commercial influence. Our dedicated team of news professionals unites young talent and household names in the world of broadcast journalism.”]
Eyewitnesses of Japan quake talk to RT from Tokyo

Scary footage: Tsunami waves raging, buildings burn after 8.9 Japan earthquake

Japan earthquake: CCTV video of tsunami wave hitting airport

>Travel disrupted by disaster in Japan

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Hundreds of Japan-bound flights are canceled, visitors to Japanese theme parks are stranded, and Hawaii hotels and California campgrounds are evacuated.
Travelers around the Pacific were stopped in their tracks by Friday’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Hundreds of Japan-bound flights were canceled over the course of the day, thousands of people were stranded at Japanese theme parks; hotels in Hawaii evacuated guests in the middle of the night to avoid surging water; and campers were evacuated from costal state parks in Northern California.
The U.S. State Department posted a travel alert, strongly urging “U.S. citizens to avoid tourism and non-essential travel to Japan at this time.” Officials at Los Angeles International Airport reported Friday that Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport reopened about 12 hours after the disaster, but all passengers to Japan were advised to check with their airlines on the status of their flights. Airports closer to the epicenter in northeastern Japan remain closed.
Air travelers around the world were stymied by flight cancellations over the course of the day.
“Hole up where you are and ride it out for the next 24 to 48 hours,” advised Bruce McIndoe, president of iJet, a travel risk-management company. “And don’t try to insert yourself into the mess.”
Many airlines were waiving change and cancellation fees. A spokesman for Singapore Airlines said the airline would waive fees for refunding, rebooking or rerouting customers with airline tickets or air-and-land packages that were issued on or before March 11 and involve travel up to March 20.
Meanwhile, the massive earthquake also stranded thousands of people at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea by damaged roads and transportation interruptions that forced visitors to stay overnight in 30-degree weather. Though the theme parks experienced some quake damage, there were no reports of injuries.
Perhaps the most vulnerable travelers of all, those aboard cruise ships, apparently suffered no casualties, but at least one ship was forced to change course. The 2,620-passenger Queen Mary 2 was to visit Nagasaki, nearly 800 miles southwest of the epicenter, on Saturday but the ship will instead divert to its next port of call, Beijing, according to Cunard cruise line’s website.
The Azamara Quest of Azamara Club Cruises was docked at Nagasaki when the quake hit. “Guests on board found out through news reports,” said spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez. “None of them experienced the quake or the tsunami.” Martinez said the ship is still scheduled to stop at Osaka on Sunday. Thousands of miles across the Pacific, the city of Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii was hit by a wave in the middle of the night. Other islands were relatively unscathed.
A website for the King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel reported that guests were evacuated at 3:30 a.m. and that the lobby and restaurant sustained water damage. The website reported that guests would be moved to other hotels for the next three days. The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai and the Kona Village Resort, neither of which could be reached by phone Friday, have posted notices on Facebook saying they had relocated guests to other hotels while they assess the damage to their properties.
In California, the northern part of the state took the brunt of the ocean surge with coastal damage at Fort Bragg and Crescent City. Campers were evacuated from state parks from Sinkyone Wilderness and others on the Mendocino coast down to McGrath State Beach in Ventura. A parks spokesman said campgrounds that had been evacuated were expected to reopen by the end of Friday.

>Tsunami waves hit Hawaii and California, but damage is limited (FOTO GALLERY)

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San Francisco: A tsunami emanating from the massive earthquake that hit Japan on Friday sent seven-foot waves into the Hawaiian islands, but appeared to have caused no major damage in Hawaii or along the West Coast.
Peter Carlisle, the mayor of Honolulu, said Friday that the threat had subsided substantially and that coastal highways had reopened on the island of Oahu. He said residents who had evacuated were now free to return home, though they should remain off beaches for now.
But by midmorning on a beautiful, sunny day, sunbathers and walkers had returned to Waikiki Beach, though in smaller numbers than usual. Here and there children ventured into the water, despite official warnings to stay out of the ocean.
“You kind of observe things out there,” said Dominik Ladner of Toronto, who stood on the beach while his two children ran in and out of the water. “But I’m not worried too much.”
Kyle and Connie Gilmer of Anniston, Ala., stood on a breakwater that had been shown on television being swamped by waves six hours earlier. “It crossed my mind,” Mr. Gilmer said, speaking about the tsunami.
By midday, a tsunami warning — which directs residents of low-lying regions to move inland and to higher ground — had been lifted for most of Hawaii, and people around the state were returning to homes, hotels and beaches. For the most part, damage was minor — docks and boats were damaged in several marinas. However, the Kona district of the Hawaii island sustained more serious damage, with waves submerging the pier and topping a sea wall, flooding several hotels and businesses.
A tsunami warning remained in effect along the West Coast of the United States, from central California to Alaska.
The Coast Guard reported that one person was swept to sea near McKinleyville, Calif., while trying to take pictures of the approaching waves. A search had begun.
Four people were also swept to sea in Curry County, Ore., in the southwestern corner of the state. According to Deputy Brandi Carballo, all four were overtaken by the water as they sought to observe the waves.
“They didn’t think the tsunami was that strong,” she said.
Two managed to escape under their own power, while two others were rescued by firefighters and members of law enforcement. One victim, a woman, was taken to the hospital after nearly drowning, said Deputy Carballo.
The first waves arrived along that stretch of the Oregon coastline around 7:30 a.m., but intensified between 11 a.m. and noon. Damage was not insignificant, with boats sunk in the harbor of Brookings, Ore., and others swept out to sea.
The National Weather Service was also reporting wide array of property damage along California’s most northern coast. About three dozen boats were destroyed in Crescent City, Calif., where a 1964 tsunami — considered one of the most destructive ever to strike the continental United States _ killed nearly a dozen people. On Friday, all of the city’s docks were destroyed, according to the weather service, though no homes were damaged.
Evacuations had been ordered in some spots, and officials were blunt in advising residents to stay clear.
“Don’t be fooled,” read a special weather statement. “Tsunami waves can seem to stop for long periods and then begin again.”
Powerful waves also sunk several boats in Santa Cruz harbor, about 60 miles southeast of San Francisco on Monterey Bay. A series of waves ripped docks up and sent debris speeding toward shore. Sailboats broke free of their moorings and slammed against docks, bridges and other boats. Surfboards, kayaks and other smaller watercraft were tossed airborne in the tumult.
As owners scrambled over docks to try to save their boats, bystanders serving as lookouts yelled, “Wave! Wave!” as surges ebbed and flowed in about 20 minute intervals.
“It was like a whitewater rafting trip in the middle of the harbor,” said Marc Kraft, president of Pacific Yachting and Sailing, a sailing school that had several boats damaged. Mr. Kraft said his brother, who lives in Tokyo, had called him before dawn to say that he was safe, but that a wave was headed his way.
“It’s hard to see this,” Mr. Kraft said. “But the bottom line is that no one was hurt.”
By midmorning, waves hitting local beaches near San Francisco were of a modest size and posed no flooding danger. Instead of causing people to flee, however, the potential for powerful surges attracted large crowds of spectators to the shore.
In Hawaii, far larger waves started hitting the islands early Friday and caused damage to piers and marinas and some flooding, officials said. There have been no reports of deaths or injuries. Officials in California and elsewhere along the West Coast closed beaches as a precaution, prohibiting swimming, surfing and fishing.
There were no calls for widespread, mandatory evacuations. But weather experts warned that there could be large waves and unusual changes in the currents for several hours. Schools in some California beach communities closed Friday.
Along the Oregon coast, Marvin VandeStreek, who operates the Edwin KBed and Breakfast in Florence, Ore., said tsunami warnings had been broadcast in the area throughout the night.
“They were sounding the sirens for people to evacuate and police and fire were coming through the streets with loudspeakers and the lights going,” Mr. VandeStreek said.
He said he woke the guests at his inn and moved into an evacuation center, where other residents — some with their pets — surrounded a television broadcasting CNN.
At a news conference Friday morning at City Hall, Mayor Edwin M. Lee of San Francisco said he did not expect the crest — expected to be one to two feet — to cause damage. He said no evacuations would be ordered.
Still, the Great Highway — which runs along Ocean Beach, the city’s premier stretch of sand and a popular surf spot — was closed, and officials were warning residents and visitors to stay clear of the area. But the surf seemed normal Friday morning, though hundreds of sightseers had come to watch the waves, which arrived just past 8 a.m. Onlookers lined the cliffs above the beach and clogged some suburban highways angling for a view.
Chakot Rabhakrishnan, a laid-off Sprint customer service representative who lives near San Francisco’s Ocean Beach, said he had come to “have a watch.”
He said he been a little worried about the surge but could “tell by the rocks,” he said — pointing to an outcropping poking out of the surf — that no big wave was headed to the beach.
“I thought we might get some effect,” Mr. Rabhakrishnan said. “But not so much.”
In Pacifica, Calif., a small coastal city about 15 miles south of San Francisco, school officials canceled classes for the day and law enforcement officials on loudspeakers cleared people off beaches and strung yellow caution tape to close off beach parking lots.
On Friday morning at about 8 a.m. — when the first surge had been predicted to arrive — hundreds of residents and curious onlookers sought higher ground and premium views along a road above the city.
People parked their cars, set up lawn chairs and looked seaward through binoculars and cameras, waiting.
Among those who evacuated were Andy Wood, 43, his wife Erin, 35, and their three sons, ages 16, 3 and 10 months.
The Woods, who live a few blocks from the beach, received a call from the sheriff’s office at about 4:30 a.m., so they packed the boys, a change of clothes, their dog, Daisy, and cat, Bella, into the family minivan and headed for safety.
“We’ve been worried about tsunamis since we moved here,” said Mr. Wood, a computer programmer. “As soon as we got that call I was like, ‘Let’s pack up and get out.’ I’d rather be overcautious and look like a fool than end up on the news for not evacuating when we should have.”
After watching the ocean for about an hour, Mr. Wood said the family planned to head home. “It looks like another normal day at the beach,” he said.
In the hours before the waves were predicted to hit Hawaii, Honolulu Police drove down Kalakaua Avenue telling straggling tourists to return to their hotels and advising street musicians and vendors about what streets to avoid on their way home. In one sign that something unusual was afoot, a two-block pleasure zone along Kapiolani Street was nearly devoid of prostitutes well before midnight.
In the Waikiki district, lines formed at gas stations and some high-end boutiques closed early.
At the 1,600-room Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, a whiteboard announcing the tsunami warning drew worried guests as well as those who posed before the board for vacation snapshots. Later in the evening, guests from lower floors were relocated to rooms higher in the hotel.
In the expansive lobby of the Sheraton Wakiki, a cluster of Japanese guests remained, using a bank of Internet-connected computers.
The tsunami did have one temporary, picturesque effect on Waikiki Beach: a circle of lights, like a new skyline, a mile offshore, where boats from local marinas had gone to ride out the storm.
On the island of Lanai, civil defense sirens sounded piercing alarms at regular intervals into the night and thousands of people in low-lying coastal areas deemed “inundation zones” were ordered to evacuate. But by morning, a school of spinner dolphins could be seen swimming peacefully in Manele Bay, apparently sensing no further danger.