(Fox News March 11, 2011) For more than two terrifying, seemingly endless minutes Friday, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan shook apart homes and buildings, cracked open highways and unnerved even those who have learned to live with swaying skyscrapers. Then a devastating tsunami followed that slammed into northeastern Japan and killed hundreds of people. The violent wall of water swept away houses, cars and ships. Fires burned out of control. Power to cooling systems at two nuclear power plants was knocked out, forcing thousands of nearby residents to be evacuated. A boat was caught in the vortex of a whirlpool at sea. The death toll rose steadily throughout the day, but the true extent of the disaster was not known because roads to the worst-hit areas were washed away or blocked by debris and airports were closed.
Following dawn Saturday, the scale of destruction became clearer. Aerial scenes of the town of Ofunato showed homes and warehouses in ruins. Sludge and high water spread over acres of land, with people seeking refuge on roofs of partially submerged buildings. At one school, a large white "SOS" was spelled out in English. Atsushi Koshi, a 24-year old call center worker in the coastal city of Tagajo, said he could still see black smoke rising and added that his cousin remained trapped with about 200-300 other people on the roof of a department store near the hard-hit port of Sendai in Miyagi prefecture. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said an initial assessment found "enormous damage," and the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the hardest-hit region. President Obama pledged U.S. help following what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster. One U.S. aircraft carrier is already in Japan and a second was on its way, he said. A U.S. ship was also heading to the Marianas Islands to assist, he added. The entire Pacific had been put on alert--including coastal areas of South America, Canada and Alaska--but waves weren't as bad as expected.
The magnitute 8.9 offshore quake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time and was the biggest to hit Japan since record-keeping began in the late 1800's. It was ranked as the fifth largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, scientists said. The quake shook dozens of cities and villages along a 1300 mile stretch of coast and tall buildings swayed in Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicenter. Prince Minister Naoto Kan was addressing parliament at the time. Minutes later, the earthquake unleashed a 23-foot (seven-meter) tsunami along the northeastern coast of Japan near Sendai.
The tsunami roared over enbankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing direction and carrying the cars, homes, and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the homes, apparently from burst gas pipes. Waves of muddy waters flowed over farms near Sendai, carrying buildings, some of them ablaze. Drivers attempted to flee. The tarmac at Sendai's 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 was suspended in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serves 10 million people a day. Untold numbers of people were stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely. Police said 200-300 bodies were found in Sendai, although the official casualty toll was 185 killed, 741 missing and 948 injured. A ship with 80 dock workers was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi prefecture. All on the ship was believed to be safe, although the vessel had sprung a leak and was taking on some water, Japan's coast guard said.
In the coastal town of Minami-soma, about 1800 houses were destroyed or ravaged, a Defense Ministry spokeswoman said. Fire burned well past dark in a large section of Kesennuma, a city of 70,000 people in Miyagi. A resident who had been stranded on his roof, surrounded by water, mud and fallen trees, was rescued by a Self-Defense Force helicopter Saturday morning, TV video showed.
Japan declared its first-ever states of emergency for five nuclear reactors at two power plants after the units lost cooling ability in the aftermath of the earthquake, and workers struggled to prevent meltdowns. There's a fear the temperature doesn't cool down, then there could be a nuclear meltdown in that region. Many residents are fleeing because of a possible nuclear meltdown. The earthquake also knocked out power at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and because a backup generator failed, the cooling system is being used, Japan's nuclear safety agency said pressure inside the reactor had risen to twice the level considered normal. Tokyo Electric Power Co. warned of power shortages and an "extremely challenging situation in power supply for a while."
We need to remember to pray for the residents of Japan. We need to pray that tsunami waves that possibly may come to the West Coast won't cause very much damage in California and Oregon. It's a very tumultuous time for Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment