Tsunami fury lashes Japan

• Triggered by one of largest ever quakes
• Pacific warning alert for killer wave

Japan was hit by one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded triggering a deadly 10 meter high Tsunami that threatened to scythe through vast swaths of coastal territory across the globe embracing the pacific.

The devastating 8.9 magnitude quake left many people injured in coastal areas of the main Honshu Island and Tokyo while TV footage showed widespread flooding in the area. The death toll stood at 337, 531 were missing and 627 injured in the tsunami at the time this edition went to press but it is feared that this figure could multiply greatly given the cataclysmic nature of the devastation as shown on CNN.

Tsunami carries away ship with 100 people

A ship carrying about 100 people was swept away by the huge tsunami that hit Japan on Friday and its fate was unknown, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing Miyagi prefecture police. No further information was immediately available from Japanese media or prefectural police which AFP reached by telephone. The quake was the largest ever to hit Japan, the fifth strongest tremor worldwide since 1900 and the seventh strongest in history, according to the US Geological Survey and Japanese seismologists. AFP

Television footage showed whole cities, malls and residences being swept away by the killer waves with masses of vehicles drifting to and fro in the undulating tide ebbing and flowing like toys. It also showed massive inundation in Northern coastal towns where floods of black water sent shipping containers ,cars and debris crashing through streets. An oil refinery was ablaze near Tokyo.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a widespread warning for territories as far away as South America, New Zealand and Hawaii, where evacuations were ordered.

The US Tsunami monitoring Centre also widened a warning to virtually the entire Pacific coast, including Australia and South America.

Television footage also showed a wide muddy stream moving rapidly across a residential area near the Natori river in Sendai levelling all in its path.

According to a AFP dispatch the powerful earthquake that struck off Japans Pacific coast was felt as far away as the Chinese Capital Beijing, some 2500 kilometres (1,500 miles) to the West.

Meanwhile AFP reported that the Tsunami also reached Sendai airport submerging the runway.

Plumes of smoke also rose from at least 10 locations in the capital Tokyo where four million homes suffered power outages. AFP said

A monster 10-metre (33 feet) wall of water was reported in Sendai city in northeastern Miyagi prefecture, media said after a four-metre wave hit the coast earlier.

The government said the quake had caused “tremendous damage”.

Swells of up to one metre were reported hitting Russia’s far east, with bigger waves expected later.

The first quake struck just under 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Tokyo, the US Geological Survey said. It was followed by more than a dozen aftershocks, one as strong as 7.1.

The quake was the largest ever in Japan, the fifth strongest tremor worldwide since 1900 and the seventh strongest in history, according to the US Geological Survey and Japanese seismologists.

“We were shaken so strongly for a while that we needed to hold on to something in order not to fall,” said an official at the local government of the hardest-hit city of Kurihara in Miyagi prefecture.

“We couldn’t escape the building immediately because the tremors continued... City officials are now outside, collecting information on damage,” she told AFP by telephone.

A major blackout occurred across a wide area of northeastern Japan.

The quake affected the nation’s key transportation systems, including Narita airport, which shut its runways for safety checks.

The quake, which hit at 14:46 pm (0546 GMT) and lasted about two minutes, rattled buildings in greater Tokyo, the world’s largest urban area and home to some 30 million people.

In Tokyo, where the subway system stopped, sirens wailed and people streamed out of buildings.

The government moved to reassure people that there had been no radiation leak from the country’s network of nuclear power plants.

More than 220,000 people were killed when a 9.1-magnitude quake hit off Indonesia in 2004, unleashing a massive tsunami that devastated coastlines in countries around the Indian Ocean as far away as Africa.