Friday, 11 March 2011 will go down in history as one of the blackest days in Japan’s history notwithstanding the horror at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. At 2h46 Japanese local time, a massive earthquake, measuring a magnitude of 9.0 on the Richter scale, struck off the coast of Japan, unleashing a massive tsunami that destroyed two thirds of this east coast nation.
The city of Sendai was hardest hit as it was closest to the epicentre. It is feared that 10 000 people in the Miyagi prefecture have lost their lives with 2000 bodies already recovered.
Yesterday, the official death toll stood at 1671 with 678 people missing and 3117 people rescued.
In north east of Japan 300 people were swept into the sea whilst the brute force of the tsunami totally wiped out Kamaishi city.
Aftershocks were felt in the nation’s capital with Tokyo registering a 6.6 magnitude and the city of Honshu with a 6.0 magnitude. Three hundred and eight aftershocks have taken place thus far.
Scientists went on record and stated that the initial quake shifted the earth’s axis by 10cm whilst mainland Japan moved 2.4 metres.
Reports also revealed that the Kyushu volcano erupted spewing out smoke and ash 4000 metres into the air.
Three explosions took place in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant with the imminent danger of leakage omnipresent. The military evacuated 200 000 people within a 30km radius with reports of dozens of people testing positive for nuclear radiation.
“The worst case scenario is in a reactor not staying cool. Reports indicate that some reactors have lost their cooling system whilst others are slowly failing,” said a Japanese spokesman.
70 countries pledged support for the city of Sendai and Japan alike thus far.
“The earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear incidents constitute the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of the Second World War,” said Prime Minister Naoto Kan.
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