Compiled from news reports
A ferocious tsunami unleashed by Japan's biggest recorded earthquake slammed into its eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it carried away ships, cars and homes, and triggered widespread fires that burned out of control.
Hours later, the waves washed ashore on Hawaii and the U.S. West coast, where evacuations were ordered from California to Washington but little damage was reported. The entire Pacific had been put on alert, including coastal areas of South America, Canada and Alaska, but waves were not as bad as expected.
U.S. President Barack Obama said that Japan's leader told him there was no evidence of a nuclear leak after a major quake, even though the US Air Force delivered coolant to a plant. Obama said he asked specifically about the safety of Japan's nuclear plants when he spoke by telephone to Prime Minister Naoto Kan about the disaster.
In northeastern Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant was evacuated after the reactor's cooling system failed and pressure began building inside.
Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 178 were confirmed killed, with 584 missing. Police also said 947 people were injured.
The magnitude-8.9 offshore quake triggered a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them more than magnitude 6.0.
Friday's massive quake shook dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coast, including Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter. A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.
Koto Fujikawa, 28, was riding a monorail when the quake hit and had to pick her way along narrow, elevated tracks to the nearest station. ``I thought I was going to die,'' Fujikawa, who works for a marketing company, said. ``It felt like the whole structure was collapsing.''
Scientists said the quake ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month.
President Obama pledged U.S. assistance following what he called a potentially ``catastrophic'' disaster. He said one U.S. aircraft carrier is already in Japan, and a second is on its way. A U.S. ship was also heading to the Marianas Islands to assist as needed, he added.
Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside the reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant has risen to 1.5 times the level considered normal, and slightly radioactive vapor may be released to reduce the pressure.
The Defense Ministry said it had sent dozens of troops trained to deal with chemical disasters to the plant in case of a radiation leak.
Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants, but there was no radiation leak at either of them.
Japan's coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.
Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles (kilometers) inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images on Japanese TV of powerful, debris-filled waves, uncontrolled fires and a ship caught in a massive whirlpool resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.
Large fishing boats and other vessels rode high waves ashore, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged cars bobbed in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.
The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the homes, probably because of burst gas pipes.
Waves of muddy waters flowed over farmland near Sendai, carrying buildings, some of them ablaze. Drivers attempted to flee. Sendai airport was inundated with thick, muddy debris that included cars, trucks, buses and even light planes.
Highways to the worst-hit coastal areas buckled. Telephone lines snapped. Train service in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.
In one town alone on the northeastern coast, Minami-soma, some 1,800 houses were destroyed or badly ravaged, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said.
As night fell and temperatures hovered just above freezing, tens of thousands of people remained stranded in Tokyo, where the rail network was still down. The streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks trying to get out of the city.
The city set up 33 shelters in city hall, on university campuses and in government offices, but many planned to spend the night at 24-hour cafes, hotels and offices.
Japanese automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda halted production at some assembly plants in areas hit by the quake.
A tsunami warning was extended to a number of areas in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and Latin America, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were reported.
Thousands fled homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high, but waves of only 4 inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, either.
Pope Benedict XVI was "deeply saddened" by an earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan on Friday, possibly killing more than 1,000 people, a telegram to Japan's bishops said.
The pope was "deeply saddened by the brutal and tragic consequences of the severe earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern coastal regions" of Japan, said the telegram sent by the Vatican's number two Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone on behalf of the pope.
일본 최악 대지진, 사망 수백명
센다이서 200∼300명 숨져
교통.통신 두절 대혼란
11일 오후 중북부를 강타한 최악의 지진과 대형 쓰나미로 일본 열도가 아비규환에 빠졌다.
12일 오전 사망자가 400여명에 달했으며 부상사는 600여명으로 추산됐다.
또 선박과 차량, 건물이 쓰나미로 역류하는 바닷물에 휩쓸려 큰 피해가 발생하고 원전의 가동이 중단됐으며, 정유공장에 화재가 발생하고, 교통과 통신이 두절되는 등 일본 열도가 최악의 혼란을 빚고 있다.
전력공급 중단으로 동북부 해안 도후쿠 지방 440만가구, 간토지역은 400여만가구 등 모두 450만여 가구의 전기공급이 끊겼다고 통신보도가 전했다.
이날 오후 2시46분 도쿄에서 북동쪽으로 243마일 떨어진 도후쿠 지방 부근 해저에서 규모 8.9의 일본 국내 관측사상 최대의 지진이 발생, 사망자와 실종자가 계속 늘어나고 있다.
쓰나미에 휩쓸린 미야기현 센다이시 와카바야시구 해안인 아라하마에서는 200∼300명의 익사 사체가 한꺼번에 발견됐다고 일본 언론매채가 보도했다.