
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.
