Meltdown alert at Japan reactor, Japan Earthquake, Tsunami in Japan, Meltdown alert at Fukushima Nuclear Reactor

Technicians are battling to stabilise a third reactor at a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant, which has been rocked by a second blast in three days.

The fuel rods inside reactor 2 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant have been fully exposed on two separate occasions, raising fears of a meltdown.

Sea water is being pumped into the reactor to try to prevent overheating.

A cooling system breakdown preceded explosions at the plant's reactor 3 on Monday and reactor 1 on Saturday.

The latest hydrogen blast injured 11 people, one of them seriously. It was felt 40km (25 miles) away and sent a huge column of smoke into the air.

The outer building around the reactor was largely destroyed.

But as with the first explosion, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) said the thick containment walls shielding the reactor cores remained intact. It also said radiation levels outside were still within legal limits.
'Not optimistic'

Shortly after the blast, Tepco warned that it had lost the ability to cool Fukushima Daiichi's reactor 2.

Hours later, the company revealed that the fuel rods inside had been exposed fully at one point, reportedly for about two-and-a-half hours. It said a fire pump that had been used to pump seawater into the reactor had run out of fuel.

The company is now trying to inject sea water into the reactor to cover the fuel rods, cool them down and prevent another explosion.

Initially, water levels continued to fall despite the efforts, as only one of the five fire pumps was working, officials said. The other four were believed to have been damaged by the blast at reactor 3.

By Monday evening, the water level inside the reactor had risen to 2m. But later, Tepco officials said the fuel rods had again been fully exposed.

Air pressure inside reactor 2 rose suddenly when the air flow gauge was accidentally turned off. That blocked the flow of water into the reactor, leading to the water level dropping and the rods being exposed at about 2300 local time (1400 GMT).

"We are not optimistic but I think we can inject water once we can reopen the valve and lower the air pressure," a Tepco official told reporters, according to the AFP news agency.

Exposure for too long a period of time can damage the fuel rods and raise the risk of overheating and possible meltdown.

Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said workers were also battling rising pressure within the reactor. They have opened vents in the containment vessel, which could release small amounts of radiation.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said there were signs that the fuel rods were melting in all three reactors at Fukushima Daiichi.

"Although we cannot directly check it, it's highly likely happening," he told reporters.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the core container at the reactor was still intact

However, he insisted that radiation around the plant remained at tolerable levels.

Nevertheless, nearly 185,000 people have been evacuated from a 20km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant.

The US said it had moved one of its aircraft carriers from the area after detecting low-level radiation 160km (100 miles) offshore.

Experts say a disaster on the scale of Chernobyl in the 1980s is highly unlikely because the reactors are built to a higher standard and have much more rigorous safety measures.

Earlier, Tepco said it had restored the cooling systems at two of the three reactors experiencing problems at the nearby Fukushima Daini power plant, 11.5km (7.1 miles) to the south.

The Japanese government has asked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to send a team of experts to help, the UN agency has said.
Complete devastation

Meanwhile, the relief operation is continuing after Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake, which triggered a tsunami that devastated swathes of the north-eastern coast of the country.

About 2,000 bodies had been found washed ashore on beaches in the north-eastern prefecture of Miyagi, police said.

A thousand were found on the Ojika peninsula and another thousand in the town of Minamisanriku, which was flattened by the tsunami.

The BBC's Alastair Leithead is near the town of Minamisanriku which has been virtually flattened

The BBC's Rachel Harvey says the valley where Minamisanriku once stood is now just a scene of complete devastation.

Everything in the tsunami's path was flattened, with only the town's hospital and a government building remaining, our correspondent says. Apart from that, she adds, there are just a few rooftops here and there.
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People are surviving on little food and water. Things are simply not coming”

End Quote Hajime Sato Iwate prefectural government

The total number of people killed by the disaster remains unclear. The official death toll stands at nearly 1,900, but officials in Miyagi have estimated that 10,000 people died in the prefecture alone.

Tens of thousands are still unaccounted for, while many remote towns and villages remain cut off and have had no help since Friday's earthquake.

Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that more than 500,000 people had been displaced by the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency.

Millions of others have spent three nights without water, food or heat in near-freezing winter weather.

The government has deployed 100,000 troops to lead the aid effort. They have been given 120,000 blankets, 120,000 bottles of water, tonnes of food, and 111,000 litres (29,000 gallons) of petrol to distribute.

But Hajime Sato, a government official in Iwate prefecture, one of the three hardest hit, said it had received so far only 10% of the food and other supplies they had requested from the central government.
Elderly people sleep on the floor at an evacuation centre set in a gymnasium in Kawamata, Fukushima prefecture (14 March 2011) More than 500,000 people are believed to have been displaced from their homes

"People are surviving on little food and water. Things are simply not coming," he told the Associated Press.

Communications networks are also down in many areas.

The government asked people not to go to work or school on Monday because the transport network would not be able to cope with demand.

The capital, Tokyo, is still experiencing regular aftershocks, amid warnings that another powerful earthquake is likely to strike very soon.

A 6.2-magnitude tremor on Monday triggered a new tsunami scare on the Pacific coast, with the authorities telling people to flee to higher ground.

The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice to warn against all non-essential travel to Tokyo and north-eastern Japan. British nationals and friends and relatives of those in Japan can contact the Foreign Office on +44(0) 20 7008 0000.

32 killed in major tsunami after 8.9 Japan quake, Largest Earthquake in Tokyo Japan, Tsunami In Japan, Northern Japan Tsunami

TOKYO — TOKYO (AP) - A powerful tsunami spawned by the largest earthquake in Japan's recorded history slammed the eastern coast Friday, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

Authorities said at least 32 people were killed. The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake was followed by at least 19 aftershocks, most of them of more than magnitude 6.0. Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the epicenter.

A utility company in northeastern Japan reported a fire in a turbine building of nuclear power plant.

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions. It unleashed a 23-foot (7-meter) tsunami that swept boats, cars, buildings and tons of debris miles inland.

Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water.

Waves of muddy waters swept over farmland near the city of Sendai, carrying buildings, some on fire, inland as cars attempted to drive away. Sendai airport, north of Tokyo, was inundated with cars, trucks, buses and thick mud deposited over its runways. Fires spread through a section of the city, public broadcaster NHK reported.

The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.

"Our initial assessment indicates that there has already been enormous damage," Chief government spokesman Yukio Edano said. "We will make maximum relief effort based on that assessment."

He said the Defense Ministry was sending troops to the quake-hit region. A utility aircraft and several helicopters were on the way.

A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo and was burning out of control with 100-foot (30 meter) -high flames whipping into the sky.

In northeastern Japan's Miyagi prefecture, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant. Smoke was observed coming out of the building, which is separate from the plant's reactor, and the cause is under investigation, said Tohoku Electric Power Co. the company said.

There have been no reports of radioactive leaks or injuries, the company said. Several nuclear plants elsewhere along the coast were also partially shut down, with no reports of leakage.

Also from Miyagi prefecture, NHK showed footage of a large ship being swept away and ramming directly into a breakwater in Kesennuma city.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 2:46 p.m. quake was a magnitude 8.9, the biggest earthquake to hit Japan since officials began keeping records in the late 1800s.

A tsunami warning was extended to a number of Pacific, Southeast Asian and Latin American nations, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities said they expect a 3-foot (1-meter) high tsunami.

The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off the eastern coast, the agency said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo.

In downtown Tokyo, large buildings shook violently and workers poured into the street for safety. TV footage showed a large building on fire and bellowing smoke in the Odaiba district of Tokyo. The tremor bent the upper tip of the iconic Tokyo Tower, a 333-meter (1,093-foot) steel structure inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In central Tokyo, trains were stopped and passengers walked along the tracks to platforms. NHK said more than 4 million buildings were without power in Tokyo and its suburbs.

Large numbers of people waited at Tokyo's Shinjuku station, the world's busiest train station, for service to resume so they could go home. TV announcers urged workers not to leave their offices to prevent injuries in case of more strong aftershocks.

Osamu Akiya, 46, was working in Tokyo at his office in a trading company when the quake hit.

It sent bookshelves and computers crashing to the floor, and cracks appeared in the walls.

"I've been through many earthquakes, but I've never felt anything like this," he said. "I don't know if we'll be able to get home tonight."

Footage on NHK from their Sendai office showed employees stumbling around and books and papers crashing from desks. It also showed a glass shelter at a bus stop in Tokyo completely smashed by the quake and a weeping woman nearby being comforted by another woman.

Several quakes had hit the same region in recent days, including a 7.3 magnitude one on Wednesday.

Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in northern Iwate prefecture, said officials were having trouble getting an overall picture of the carnage.

"We don't even know the extent of damage. Roads were badly damaged and cut off as tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things," he said.

Tokyo's main airport was closed. A large section of the ceiling at the 1-year-old airport at Ibaraki, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo, fell to the floor with a powerful crash.

Dozens of fires were reported in northern prefectures of Fukushima, Sendai, Iwate and Ibaraki. Collapsed homes and landslides were also reported in Miyagi.

Japan's worst previous quake was in 1923 in Kanto, an 8.3-magnitude temblor that killed 143,000 people, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe city in 1996 killed 6,400 people.

Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 nations. A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile last February also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people. sai, Sunil Grover, Rehman and Sahil Khattar.