Japanese search crews dig for quake victims
Rescue workers used chain saws and hand picks today to dig out bodies in Japan's devastated coastal towns, as Asia's richest nation faced a growing humanitarian, nuclear and economic crisis in the aftermath of a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Millions of people spent a third night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures along the devastated northeastern coast. Also, the containment building of a second nuclear reactor exploded because of hydrogen buildup while the stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries.
More than 10,000 people are estimated to have died in Friday's twin tragedy that has caused unimaginable deprivation for people of this industrialized country that has not seen such hardships since World War II. In many areas there is no running water, no power and four- to five-hour waits for gasoline. People are suppressing hunger with instant noodles or rice balls while dealing with the loss of loved ones and homes.
"People are surviving on little food and water. Things are simply not coming," said Hajime Sato, a government official in Iwate prefecture, one of the three hardest hit.
The pulverized coast has been hit by more than 150 aftershocks since Friday, the latest one a 6.2 magnitude quake that was followed by a new tsunami scare today. Abandoning their search operations, soldiers told residents of the devastated shoreline in Soma, the worst hit town in Fukushima prefecture, to run to higher ground. The warning turned out to be a false alarm.
"This is Japan's most severe crisis since the war ended 65 years ago," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Sunday, adding that Japan's future would be decided by its response.
On Sunday, search parties arrived in Soma for the first time since Friday to dig out bodies. Firefighters used hand picks and chain saws to clear an indescribable jumble of broken timber, plastic sheets, roofs, sludge, twisted cars, tangled power lines and household goods.
Helicopters buzzed overhead, surveying the destruction that spanned the horizon. Officials said one-third of the city of 38,000 people was flooded and thousands were missing.
According to officials, more than 1,800 people have been confirmed dead - including 200 people whose bodies were found Sunday along the coast - and more than 1,400 were missing in Friday's disasters. Another 1,900 were injured.
But police in Miyagi prefecture say 10,000 people are likely dead in their area alone.
"I'm giving up hope," said Hajime Watanabe, 38, a construction industry worker, who was the first in line at a closed gas station in Sendai, about 60 miles north of Soma. Just then, an emergency worker came over and told him that if the station opens at all, it would pump gasoline only to emergency teams and essential government workers.
"I never imagined we would be in such a situation" Watanabe said. "I had a good life before. Now we have nothing."
At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and an estimated 1.9 million households were without electricity.
Tokyo Electric Power held off on imposing rolling blackouts planned for today, but called for people try to limit electricity use.
Stocks fell in early trading today on the first business day after the disasters. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average shed 4.8 percent just after the market opened.
Preliminary estimates put repair costs from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Friday in the tens of billions of dollars - a huge blow for an already fragile economy that lost its place as the world's No. 2 to China last year.