Japan facing mounting toll in triple catastrophe; survivors short on supplies

TOKYO — As bodies washed ashore by the hundreds and an emergency deepened at a coastal nuclear plant, millions in Japan on Tuesday faced an unabating sense of apprehension, mourning and astonishment over the emerging scope of this nation-changing catastrophe.

The toll of Japan’s triple disaster — first an earthquake, then a tsunami, then a related nuclear crisis — is both visceral and hard to see. Officials in coastal towns say they are running low on body bags; homes and the people inside them have been pulverized. But Japan is also trying to quantify — and contain — the potential damage from a partial meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, where on Tuesday another explosion was heard at a damaged nuclear reactor, the third since Saturday.

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Amateur video captures the force of the tsunami's arrival in Japan. The waves devastate entire blocks in Miyagi Prefecture, with some residents narrowly escaping, as captured by this photographer. (March 14)

More on this Story

• Japanese finding more tsunami victims; survivors face deprivation
• Japan's victims struggle to understand what's happened
• In Sendai, long lines of quiet desperation

Graphic: A wave of destruction

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/japan-earthquake.html

Officials from Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the nuclear complex, said radioactive substances were emitted after the 6:14 a.m. explosion. A grave Prime Minister Naoto Kan told the nation that radiation had already spread from the reactors and there was “still a very high risk of further radioactive material escaping.”

Radiation fears took their toll on the markets. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average plummeted 10.6 percent to 8,605.15, after declining as much as 14 percent during the day.

Four days after the earthquake and resulting tsunami destroyed much of the northeastern coastline here, the U.S. Geological Survey updated the magnitude of the quake from 8.9 to 9.0, making it the fourth largest in the world since 1900.

More than 500,000 people have been removed from the hardest-hit areas and 15,000 have been rescued. But time was running low for rescuers to help those stranded by flooding or trapped in debris. Officials said about 2,000 bodies were found Monday along the coast of battered Miyagi Prefecture, and a survey of local governments conducted by the Kyodo news agency found that about 30,000 people in the devastated areas remain unaccounted for.

With some roads impassable and fuel almost nonexistent in the north, relief and rescue workers have struggled to reach the areas where they are needed most. Survivors in shelters say they are short of food and water. With the country’s power supply depleted by the damaged nuclear plants, many shelters have no heat, and on Monday, Japan began widespread efforts to curb nationwide energy usage.

As the government urged companies and residential complexes to keep lights off or cut down on time, Tokyo on Monday felt as though it had been put on pause. Millions stayed indoors. Train lines ran on limited schedules. At the iconic crosswalk in front of Tokyo’s Shibuya Station — usually a riot of lights and noise — the massive video screens were turned off. No Japanese pop music was blaring; only footsteps could be heard.

Many of these power reductions were voluntary. But the sudden downsurge in electricity use also caused confusion, as the Tokyo Electric Power Co. made on-the-fly changes to its planned series of rolling blackouts, announced Sunday. Tepco Executive Vice President Takashi Fuji­moto said that, at least Monday, lower-than-expected demand prompted the company to keep lights on in some areas — despite public announcements saying otherwise. As the plans unfolded with little correct information, chief government spokesman Yukio Edano criticized Tepco’s management, calling for a speedy release of accurate information.