Tragedy in japan

More than 1,000 people are feared to have died after the sixth largest earthquake in recorded history devastated Japan yesterday. The massive earthquake - 8,000 times stronger than the one that hit New Zealand last month - sent a catastrophic 33 foot tsunami hurtling across the Pacific Ocean.
Last night the strength of the quake increased to a staggering 9.0 on the Richter scale. Thousands of people were also forced to flee for their lives as the wall of water bore down on them, sweeping away everything in its path.
Huge fires burned unabated across large parts of the country as damaged oil refineries and gas works billowed black smoke into the sky. Half the country was understood to be without power, with four million homes in Tokyo alone being cut off, while the army has been deployed to the quake-hit areas to help relief efforts.


However those relief efforts were hampered by a number of aftershocks, including a 6.6 magnitude tremor which hit Tokyo and caused already damaged buildings to shake further. Elsewhere, two high-speed bullet trains were missing alongside a cruise ship carrying 100 passengers that was swept away when the wave hit. One of the trains was reported to be carrying 400 passengers.
A state of emergency was declared at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima after the quake caused the cooling system to fail. Tonight, the Japanese government confirmed that they would release radioactive vapor to ease high pressure that had built up inside the reactor.
Between 200 and 300 bodies have been found in Sendai city, while another 151 were confirmed killed, with 547 missing. Police also said 798 people were injured.
Hundreds of Britons are believed to be in the country. Many have spoken of the terrifying moment that the quake struck. With the death toll rising, it is feared thousands more are at risk as the true scale of the devastation becomes apparent.
Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, Japan's public broadcaster NHK said. Tsunami warnings were also issued across the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.
Hawaii and a number of low-lying islands including Guam were hit by the waves while The Red Cross has warned that the tsunami is higher than many of the islands themselves.
The first waves hit the island of Kauai at around 3.15am local time as the repercussions of the earthquake ripped through the ocean. Kahului, on the island of Maui, has been worst hit. It was struck by waves measuring at least eight feet.read here .(by english.kompas.com)