Japan mourns amid fears quake toll could hit 10,000

Japan Tsunami Live Footage - Earthquake Aerial View

Japan Earthquake: Helicopter aerial view video of giant tsunami waves

As rescuers fight their way through to the victims, workers struggle to contain radioactive leaks from a nuclear power plant

• Tania Branigan and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 12 March 2011

The full horror of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan is starting to emerge amid fears that the death toll could be as high as 10,000. A day of high tension saw workers battle to save a nuclear plant from meltdown and 50,000 rescuers fight their way to victims in the midst of mud, flood waters, collapsed buildings and continuing blazes.

At least 1,700 people were reported dead or missing following the earthquake and tsunami, Kyodo news agency said. Further shocks of up to 6.4 magnitude continued to strike the northeast a day and a half after the major quake.

In addition, Kyodo said, 9,500 people could not be contacted in Minamisanriku in the northern prefecture of Miyagi, around half the population. Japanese broadcaster NHK said 2,700 homes were missing in Arahama, in the same prefecture. Further north, the National Police Agency said 5,000 homes were under water in Rikuzen-Takata, Iwate prefecture. Reuters said survivors were clambering over uprooted trees and overturned cars to reach levelled homes.

Rail operators were also searching for four commuter trains that were travelling coastal lines in Miyagi and Iwate when the tsunami struck.

The frantic search for survivors was almost overshadowed by the spectre of radioactive leaks at one nuclear power plant, at the heart of the area most affected by Friday's earthquake. At the Fukushima plant, radiation leaked from a damaged reactor after an explosion blew the roof off. Japan's nuclear safety agency said the accident rated less serious than either the Three Mile Island or Chernobyl disasters. But authorities told the UN's atomic watchdog they were making preparations to distribute iodine to people living near nuclear power plants. Iodine can be used to help increase resistance against thyroid cancer in the case of radioactive exposure.

A 20km evacuation zone was imposed around the plant as authorities moved tens of thousands of residents from the area, some 150 miles north of Tokyo, as they try to reduce pressure in the reactors. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Japanese authorities had informed it of the explosion and that they were "assessing the condition of the reactor core".

As the first wave of military rescuers began arriving, prime minister Naoto Kan said 50,000 troops had joined rescue and recovery efforts, aided by boats and helicopters. Dozens of countries also offered help; Britain sent a specialist team of search and rescue experts. Andrew Mitchell, secretary of state for international development, said: "Our thoughts are with the people of Japan as they begin to recover from this terrible disaster." Barack Obama pledged US assistance following what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster.

In a day of chaos, 300,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the region due to radiation and tsunami fears and quake damage. Two hundred fires had been sparked, including three that still raged in the north-east city of Kesennuma, Kyodo said. In Shiogama city, Miyagi, oil was leaking from a refinery into the harbour.

Friday's 8.9 magnitude shock, the world's fifth most powerful quake in the past 100 years, appeared to have moved the main island of Japan by eight feet and shifted the Earth on its axis, an expert with the US Geological Survey told CNN.

As temperatures dropped to freezing in the worst-hit northeastern prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate, survivors huddled in shelters and braced themselves against more tremors. While many remained calm, some clutched friends and sobbed as the extent of the disaster sank in. Footage showed rescue helicopters winching children and adults to safety from the wreckage. Many could be seen trapped on rooftops.

The city of Sendai remained swamped by water. Huge fishing boats, cars and buildings were stranded across farmland along the north-east coastline.

"Everything is so hard," said Kumi Onodera, a 34-year-old Sendai resident, who described her ordeal as "like a scene from a disaster movie. The road was moving up and down like a wave. Things were on fire and it was snowing."

Not far away in Iwanuma, hospital staff spelt out SOS on the roof of their partially submerged building.

Long queues formed outside shops in towns near the coastline as people cleared shelves of water and food. At least a million in the north-east were thought to be without drinking water. Five million homes are without power and electricity providers have warned they will need to impose rolling blackouts in parts of Tokyo.

There was worldwide consternation at the prospect of a nuclear meltdown in the wake of the Japanese earthquake.Tens of thousands of people took part in an anti-nuclear demonstration in southern Germany. The event had been planned for some time, but after the news of Japan's nuclear emergency, organisers were overwhelmed by some 50,000 people who turned up to take part.

The demonstrators, who stretched in a 45km chain from Neckarwestheim power plant to the city of Stuttgart, were demanding that the German government move away from nuclear power.

In the UK, energy secretary Chris Huhne said the government was monitoring the nuclear situation in Japan. "It's too early to say what the cause was, let alone what the implications are. We are working extremely closely with the IAEA to establish what has happened. Safety is the number one priority for the nuclear industry."

Many in the government and the private energy sector in the UK worry that the raising of the spectre of nuclear disaster will have implications for coalition plans for 10 new nuclear power stations to replace the UK's ageing reactors.