Live blog: Japan earthquake

Live blog: Japan earthquake

By Al Jazeera Staff in

Asia

on March 11th, 2011.

A ship is washed aground in Kamaishi City, Iwate, by the tsunami which followed the Japanese earthquake [Picture: Reuters]

Show oldest updates on top

(All times are local in Japan GMT+9)

• 5:00am

  That's it for this liveblog - our technical staff tell us we've just got too much news on it for many browsers to handle. So we're switching over to a brand new, fresh liveblog for March 13. Make sure you keep up to date, by clicking here. Thanks for reading.
• 4:00am

  Thousands of evacuees join those spending a second night in shelters away from home. These people have been ordered from their homes near the radiation-leaking Fukushima nuclear reactor.

  
• 3:37am

  Ritsuko Allen, who we spoke to yesterday, has been back in touch with Al Jazeera's D.Parvaz, informing us that water and energy conservation efforts have started. She says:

  
  

  Some parts of Japan have started power failure rotations ... each place will have 3 hours of powering down on purpose to  save energy.

• 3:29am

  Some 300 homes have been destroyed in the Peruvian port town of Pisco, when an ocean surge caused by tsunami waves flooded into the town's central square. About 400 people are spending tonight in tents after the destruction, the town's mayor said.

  In the north of the country, the ocean withdrew as much as 200m, before returning in force and destroying several beachfront homes in Pueblo Nuevo de Colan.
• 3:20am

  The Yen is recovering from its earlier tumble, with increased demand for the currency seen on international money markets, says Associated Press.

  Half an hour ago, the Bank of Japan said it address market worries with a huge 2trillion Yen cash injection, spread over two days.
• 3:18am

  Reassuring news from the UN - the risk from Japan's radiation leak appears to be "probably quite low". The World Health Organisation's Gregory Hartl said:

  At this moment it appears to be the case that the public health risk is probably quite low. We understand radiation that has escaped from the plant is very small in amount.

• 3:00am

  Any radioactive pollution from the explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant will likely be blown out over the Pacific Ocean, thanks to favourable winds, says the French Nuclear Saety Authority.
• 2:51am

  The Bank of Japan aims to "ease financial jitters" with a huge cash injection into the money markets - supplying 2trillion yen (US$24.4billion) a day, for two consecutive days.

  The BoJ said it would "do its utmost to ensure financial market stability", smoothing the settlement of funds and providing liquidity.
• 2:30am

  Reuters says the usually bustling streets of Tokyo were empty tonight, with the few who did head into bars and restaurants glued to TV screens. Kasumi, 26, said:

  Even in the bar we kept staring at the news. I looked at the tsunami swallowing houses and it seemed like a film. I live alone, so when I go home at night, I'm scared.

  Others took to Facebook after some 800,000 phone lines were cut, putting extra pressure on the remaining communications infrastructure. A 23-year-old office worker from Tokyo posted:

  Came back home at 8 in the morning after the depressing night ... Now, the nuclear power plant has exploded and we might already be exposed to radioactivity.

  I just don't know what to do, what's coming next, and will I be alive tomorrow?

• 2:05am

  Officials are checking residents of the area around the Fukushima nuclear power plant for signs of radiation poisoning.

  
• 1:59am

  Al Jazeera's D.Parvaz gives us an idea of the scale of what needs to be fixed, telling us:

  Japanese media is reporting that in Aomori, Iwate, Akita, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaragi prefectures, roughly 4.4million households have no electricity and 445,000 have their gas cut off.

  Authorities say that they'll need between 10 - 14 days to fix those things. Additionally, as many as 1.4million households are reported to be without water. Water trucks are being deployed to help deal with the situation, and - as of Saturday evening, some 810,300 telephone lines were down.
  
  Dr Teruhiko Sato - a respiratory specialist at Tokyo's Juntendo University Hospital, who runs an outpatient clinic out of the 130-bed Warabi city hospital in Saitama prefecture, 17km from the centre of Tokyo - is very concerned about what the cold might do to an already vulnerable population in the affected areas. He says:

  Tohoku, on the north-east coast of Japan, where my wife has family she's not yet been able to reach, is a cold area of Japan, and it is actually a colder than average year, unfortunately.

  Needless to say, taking measures against the cold is essential, as the cold condition affects infectious disease; especially influenza is still in season and intensive care for the senile and for young children must be prioritised.

  
  His wife is a pediatrician who works for a national governmental hospital. He says several of her colleagues have been deployed to the affected areas. He was at the clinic when the quake hit.

  On the way to my consulting room, I found an aged inpatient man had become suddenly ill during the evacuation, and I provided him cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

  Fortunately, the resuscitation succeeded.

• 1:44am

  Fukushima residents tell Japan's public broadcaster of their fears. Ryuichi Kikuchi, a 24-year-old factory worker, said:

  Officials said 10km or 20km away is safe - but the radiation may change and go out wider. It's very disturbing. There is no way to get out of here.

  Meanwhile, 42-year-old motorist Noboru Uehara said:

  I think it's safe at the moment, but I am worried that the radiation might have already reached us.

• 1:33am

  After the devastating earthquake off the coast of north-east Japan damaged the cooling system of several reactors at Fukushima's nuclear power facility, a large explosion appears to have blown the external walls and roof off one of the reactor buildings.
  
  Al Jazeera's Sonia Gallego reports on what this means for the safety of the plant - and of the thousands of people who live nearby.  Watch the footage of the explosion, and an explanation of what happened - and might happen next - below.
• 1:21am

  Car maker Toyota suspends production at all 12 of its plants across Japan. Other motor manufacturers also hit, including Honda - where one worker was killed yesterday by a collapsing wall.
• 1:03am

  Japanese officials have denied the ongoing nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant is as serious as either the 1979 Three Mile Island accident or the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

  On the seven-point International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, Fukushima rates a four, said Japan's nuclear safety agency. Three Mile Island was a five, while Chernobyl was a seven.
• 12:57am

  Tsunami warnings have now been cancelled in the Americas. A pair of search and rescue teams - one each from Los Angeles and Washington DC - are on their way to join the rescue operation.

  The US military in Japan continues to mobilise people and equipment to aid local authorities.
• 12:45am

  And the tsunami warnings continue. Al Jazeera's Steff Gaulter shows us this diagram, which shows the warnings remaining in place, after seven aftershocks - each measuring above 5 on the Richter scale - have now rippled through Japan since 12GMT Saturday.

  The areas marked in orange face potential tsunami waves of up to 2m - while, if further tsunami do strike - those marked in yellow face waves of half a metre.

  

  Yesterday, we reported that low-lying islands in the South Pacific dealt with waves of 66cm, which flooded homes. Yet Steff explains that a 50cm wave in Tokyo would cause much less concern than in Tonga, due to the difference in topography and infrastructure.
• 12:22am

  Staying with energy markets, Ecuador's state oil company Petroecuador says it is lifting a precautionary force majeure it had declared on oil exports, after a tsunami warning on its west coast.

  Yesterday, shares in Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas jumped - as speculators invested heavily with hopes of boosted exports as Japan looks to rebuild its shattered infrastructure.

  After one steel mill owned by Sumitomo Metal caught fire, traders expect Sumitomo majority shaeholder Nippon Steel to import Usiminas products. Gustavo Brunetto, a trader with Solidus Corretora, said:

  The event could leverage Usiminas' sales to Japan.

  Meanwhile, official death tolls from the disaster continue to rise and tens of thousands remain unaccounted for.
• 12:14am

  Vladimir Putin, Russian prime minister, says the Sakhalin II project - off the eastern coast of Russia - will increase supply of Liquified Natural Gas to Japan is needed.

  LNG prices have spiked since the two disasters devastated north-east Japan, as investors eye opportunities to sell energy resources to Japan as rescue and recovery efforts continue.
• 11:59pm

  Steff Gaulter, Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist, shows us satellite images of Japan's north-east coast, showing how the coastline has shifted significantly inland.

  Before:

  

  
  

  After:

  

  [Pictures: NASA / Al Jazeera]
• 11:43pm

  The Asian Football Confederation has postponed its Asian Champions League matches in Japan amid the devastation caused by the twin disasters.
• 11:32pm

  Japan's economy grew by nearly four per cent last year, its best performance in two decades. But the earthquake which hit the country on Friday is likely have a major detrimental effect on the country's finances. Al Jazeera's Azhar Sukri reports.
• 11:25pm

  Al Jazeera's Taymoor Nabili, reporting from Japan, tells us that more than 215,000 are spending a second night in shelters, unable to return home. Some 50,000 Japanese troops have been deployed to help in relief efforts.
• 10:59pm

  Of 90 people from within the 10km exclusion zone around Fukushima nuclear power plant tested, three have given positive results for radiation exposure, says Japanese public broadcaster NHK. That's just over three per cent.

  Some 45,000 people who live within the 10km radius were told to evacuate their homes in the early hours of this morning, when pressure inside reactors was building rapidly.

  
  
• 10:54pm

  Japanese authorities are making plans to distribute iodine to residents near the Fukushima nuclear plant. This helps to protect against radiation poisoning of the thyroid gland.
• 10:49pm

  As many as 10,000 people remain unaccounted for in the port town of Minamisanriku - total population 17,000 - in the quake-hit Miyagi prefecture, says Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
• 10:39pm

  Police wearing respiratory eqipment patrol near the Fukushima nuclear plant

  

  [Picture: Reuters]
• 10:29pm

  The operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co, will fill the leaking reactor with sea water to cool it down and reduce pressure in the unit, a government spokesman says. Cabinet secretary Yukio Edano said:

  The nuclear reactor is surrounded by a steel reactor container, which is then surrounded by a concrete building.

  The concrete building collapsed. We found out that the reactor container inside didn't explode.

  Authorities earlier warned of a reactor meltdown at the reactor, damaged when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the northeast coast, but said the risk of radiation contamination was small.

  We've confirmed that the reactor container was not damaged. The explosion didn't occur inside the reactor container. As such there was no large amount of radiation leakage outside.

  At this point, there has been no major change to the level of radiation leakage outside, so we'd like everyone to respond calmly.

  We've decided to fill the reactor container with sea water. Trade minister Kaieda has instructed us to do so. By doing this, we will use boric acid to prevent criticality.

  It is expected to take between five and ten hours to fill the reactor core with sea water - and around ten days to complete the process.

  Edano said due to the falling level of cooling water, hydrogen was generated and that leaked to the space between the building and the container and the explosion happened when the hydrogen mixed with oxygen there.
• 10:23pm

  Pressure inside other reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant - where five reactors were earlier under a state of emergency - has reduced, the AP news agency reports.
• 10:21pm

  With the evacuation zone extended to a 20km radius around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and journalists reportedly not allowed within a 60km perimeter, Japan's prime minister Naoto Kan urged people to remain calm, telling reporters:

  By taking firm measures, we will do our best not to have even a single person suffer from health problems ... From the bottom of my heart, I would like everybody to listen to the government and to media reports and to act calmly.

  
  
• 10:10pm

  John Large:

  All the jigsaw pieces of the Three Mile Island disaster are being replicated at this plant - and this has gone beyond Three Mile Island.

  By the end of this day, we should know what the situation really is.

• 10:09pm

  Independent nuclear safety analyst John Large tells Al Jazeera that, by venting the radioactive steam from the inner reactor into the outer dome, a reaction may have occurred, causing the explosion.

  When I look at the size of the explosion, it is my opinion that there could be a very large leak ... the fuel continues to generate heat.

• 10:00pm

  More on that explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Radiation is leaking from the damaged reactor - after the explosion blew the roof off the facility, Reuters reported earlier.

  But the plant's operator said they key reactor container was not damaged in the blast.

  And Japan's cabinet secretary said that radiation levels outside the plant had fallen from previous levels, which surged as pressure inside the reactor built.

  
  
• 9:18pm

  Reuters reports that tsunami waves have killed at least one person in the US. The news agency quotes officials saying a 25-year-old man was confirmed dead in California's Del Norte County after surges of 2.4 metres high crashed ashore on the coasts of California and Oregon.
• 8:34pm

  Over the past decades, japanese authorities have taken many measures to ensure people and infrastructure are prepared when it comes to earthquakes. Every year the army, government and emergency agencies simulate a disaster and from an early age, citizens learn what they have to do when the tremors start. 
• 7:56pm

  
  

  Pat McDonnell, an American living in Chiba, outside Tokyo, tells Al Jazeera's D. Parvaz about the aftermath of yesterday's quake. Like thousands of others, he was stuck in Tokyo after public transport was halted.

  As far as damage goes; our office was fine. We heard a building collapsed nearby and one of my co-workers got on his motorcycle and checked it out. He said they were pulling people out and putting them in ambulances. 

  "Some didn't look good and some may have been dead. We could also see smoke which we heard was coming from Odaiba where all the major Japanese TV stations are. Finally, today on the way home on the train I could see smoke near Tokyo bay which is coming from an oil refinery owned by cosmos.

  "It usually takes me an hour and 30 minutes to commute. I just got home about an hour ago. So, it took me 26 hours to get back. I tried getting home using the trains, buses, and I was even going to flag down a taxi but only the taxis were running, they became full or reserved very quickly and the streets of Tokyo became jam packed with traffic."

  
  McDonnell finally managed to get a train home to Chiba from Tokyo today, after 26 hours 
• 7:47pm

  The government has expanded the evacuation area around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to a 20km radius from 10km, following an explosion. At least 45,000 people have already been evacuated.

  The consequences of the blast at a nuclear plant and its cause remain unclear.

  Ian Hore-Lacy, communications director at the World Nuclear Association, a London-based industry body, told Reuters he believed the explosion was due to hydrogen igniting, adding it may not necessarily have caused radiation leakage.

  "It is obviously an hydrogen explosion ... due to hydrogen igniting ...If the hydrogen has ignited, then it is gone, it doesn't pose any further threat," he said.
• 7:39pm

  Japan's Self Defence Forces says troops had found 300 to 400 bodies in the coastal city of Rikuzentakata, which was virtually wiped out by a massive tsunami, according to broadcaster NHK

  
  
• 6:45pm

  This video posted on YouTube by mossan0001 shows goods falling off the shelves during Friday's 2-minutes long quake. Indicating how  accustomed the Japanese are to tremors, loyal staff try to prevent products from falling instead of taking cover.
• 6:37pm

  TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant, says the blast there happened during an aftershock to Friday's quake. 

  Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the government is taking contingency measures and collecting iodine, with can be used against radiation sickness, as officials said they have detected eight times the normal radiation levels outside the facility.
• 6:10pm

  

  Smoke was seen billowing from the Fukushima No. 1 atomic plant after what appeared to be an explosion. Four people were reportedly injured.
• 5:30pm

  Footage on Japanese TV show that the walls of one building at the Fukushima Daiichi plant have crumbled, after reports of a blast. It was not clear if the damaged building housed the reactor which officials fear is facing a possible meltdown.

  
  
• 5:08pm

  Peter Hayes, the executive director of the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable development in Melbourne, discusses possible scenarios in the quake-hit nuclear plants. 
• 5:03pm

  Several workers have reportedly been injured in the blast at the nuclear plant.
• 4:59pm

   An explosion has been heard and smoke was seen at Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant, Jiji news agency quotes police as saying.
• 4:57pm

  AFP reports that Japan TV footage shows smoke billowing from Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant and that radioactivity there is 20 times normal level.
• 4:18pm

  Peter Hayes, a nuclear expert, tells Al Jazeera "it's still possible that the reactor workers can stabilise the situation" at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant "if power is brought back, if coolant is brought into the reactor",  but "we're really right at the precipice of a massive nuclear crisis".
• 3:49pm

  At least 703 people have been confirmed killed in the earthquake but the government voiced fears that more than 1,000 had died.
• 3:45pm

  Japanese officials and experts have dismissed suggestions of a repeat of a Chernobyl-type disaster.
  
  "No Chernobyl is possible at a light water reactor. Loss of coolant means a temperature rise, but it also will stop the reaction," Naoto Sekimura, a professor at the University of Tokyo, says.

  Even in the worst-case scenario, that would mean some radioactive leakage and equipment damage, but not an explosion. If venting is done carefully, there will be little leakage. Certainly not beyond the 3 km radius.

• 3:04pm

  Japanese nuclear authorities say there is a high possibility that nuclear fuel rods at a reactor at Tokyo Electric Power Company's (TEPC) Fukushima Daiichi plant may be melting or have melted, Jiji news agency reports.

  Experts have said that if the fuel rods have been damaged, it means that it could develop into a breach of the nuclear reactor vessel and the question then becomes one of how strong the containment structure around the vessel is and whether it has been undermined by the earthquake – and if it can withstand the likely aftershocks.

  You can see a photo of the Fukushima Daiichi plant here. The plant is one of the 25 largest nuclear power stations in the world, has six separate units on site, and lies over 200km north of Tokyo.

  For more on the possibility of a nuclear meltdown, see our news story.
• 2:42pm

  Al Jazeera's Steve Chao is doing lives from Tokyo International Airport using an iPhone 4.

  If Al Jazeera isn't available on television where you live, check out his reports online at our Live Stream.
• 2:40pm

  The Fukushima nuclear power plant "may be experiencing nuclear meltdown", according to reports by Japanese media on Saturday, while the Associated Press says an unnamed Japanese nuclear safety commission official has said a meltdown at nuclear power plant is possible.
• 2:31pm

  Al Jazeera's Steve Chao reports from the Tokyo airport, where thousands of people have been stranded. There's a major backlog of flights in and out of the country.
• 2:26pm

  Heikki Vaatamoinen, from the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, tells Al Jazeera from Kuala Lumpar that Japanese authorities and civil society are well-prepared for disaster management, even on such a massive scale.

  Offers of international assistance have exceeded the actual need, he says.
• 1:52pm

  Scientists are warning that Japan may be facing a nuclear disaster on the scale of Chernobyl.

  More on Japan's atomic emergency from Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert for the Global Security Programme at the Union of Concerned Scientists:

  The events that occurred at these plants, which is the loss of both offsite power and onsite power, is one of the rarest events to happen in a nuclear power plant, and all indications are that the Japanese do not have the situation under control.

  Japanese authorities are trying to avoid the cooling system failure from turning into catastrophe by venting radioactive gas and evacuating people, he explains.

  The calculation at this point is that if you reduce pressure now by venting, you're reducing the risk of a catastrophic rupture, which could lead to an increase in radiation of thousands of times what it would be through the vents.

  But a severe aftershock could undermine these efforts, a possibility that has laid bare a fatal flaw in readiness for the scenario that is now playing out in Japan.

  I don't think any regulatory agency anywhere takes into account the possibility of repeated severe aftershocks.

• 1.32pm

  New quakes have hit Japan this evening, the Associated Press is reporting.

  The death toll from the previous quake is already 573 and counting.
• 1:14pm

  Justin Rubinstein of the US Geological Survey says that Japan's earthquake-ready preparation has meant damage is a lot less than it might have been.

  But prospects for more violent geological activity in the immediate future are worrying, he tells Al Jazeera.

  The aftershocks are going to last for years.

• 12:58pm

  Go to Google Person Finder if you are looking for someone who may have been affected by the quake, or if you have information about a person's whereabouts. The data is public and Google plays no role in verifying it. At the time of writing, about 26,200 people are being tracked.

  As mentioned earlier in this blog, the International Committee of the Red Cross offers a similar service to help locate loved ones.
• 10:09am

  AP News agency has reported that Japan quake causes the day to get a bit shorter.
  
  NASA geophysicist Richard Gross calculated that Earth's rotation sped up by 1.6 microseconds. That is because of the shift in Earth's mass caused by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake.
  
  A microsecond is one-millionth of a second. That change in rotation speed is slightly more than the one caused by last year's larger Chile earthquake. But 2004's bigger Sumatra earthquake caused a 6.8-microsecond shortening of the day.
• 8:59am

  With a state of emergency declared at another nuclear reactor, there are now five reactors under a state of emergency - two at Fukushima No.1 plant, and three at the nearby Fukushima No.2 plant.
• 8:52am

  US citizens in Japan are being urged to let officials know their whereabouts, by emailingJapanEmergencyUSC@state.gov
• 8:39am

  Not all US military personnel in Japan have been accounted for, the Pentagon has just confirmed.
• 8:30am

  Japanese politicians are pushing for an emergency budget to counter the economic damage resulting from the twin disasters. The Bank of Japan, which has struggled to return the country to growth, said it will cut short a two-day policy review and promised to do its utmost to ensure financial market stability.

  Leaders of the ruling and opposition parties agreed on the need for an extra budget after prime minister Naoto Kan asked them to "save the country", Kyodo news agency reported. Yasuo Yamamoto, senior
  economist at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo, said:

  The government would have to sell more bonds, but this is an emergency, so this can't be avoided ... given where the Bank of Japan's benchmark interest rate is now, they can't really lower rates. The BOJ will focus on
  providing liquidity, possibly by expanding market operations.

• 8:27am

  Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan says:

  We've been working overnight to try to recover from the situation. I'm about to board a helicopter to go to the affected areas, in particular the area around affected nuclear facilities. At the moment we have ordered a 10km exclusion zone around the facility. I'm going there with experts from the industry to talk with the people responsible on the ground, and to grasp how the situation is. On this basis we will make the necessary decisions.

• 8:17am

  A total of 45,000 people living within a 10km radius of the Fukushima nuclear power plant have now been told to evacuate their homes - a steep rise on the 3,000 who were told to leave yesterday evening.
• 8:15am

  BoingBoing is hosting an excellent gallery of aerial photos which depict the scale of devastation caused by the earthquake and susequent tsunami. Click here to see it.

  
• 8:12am

  Dozens of troops trained for chemical disasters have been sent to the Fukushima nuclear plant in case of a radiation leak, along with four vehicles designed for use in atomic, biological and chemical warfare, says defence ministry official Ippo Maeyama.
• 8:08am

  Tokyo Electric Power has lost its ability to control pressure in some of the reactors of a second nuclear power plant at its quake-hit Fukushima facility in northeastern Japan, the company has said.

  Pressure is stable inside the reactors but rising in the containment vessels, a spokesman said - although he did not know if there would be a need to release pressure at the plant, which would involve a release of radiation.
• 7:57am

  Islands across the South Pacific have reported bigger-than-normal waves - but no major damage.

  Water has flooded a number of homes in Tonga, reported police, where thousands of people sought refuge at the king's residence on higher ground.

  Tidal surges of up to 26inches (66cm) were reported in American Samoa, Nauru, Saipan and northern New Zealand.
• 7:54am

  The Fukushima nuclear plant is 40 years old - but officials have confirmed that the emergency cooling system, the last-ditch measure to prevent the reactor going into meltdown, is still intact and could kick in if needed.
• 7:51am

  Banri Kaieda, Japanese industry minister, says:

  Due to the air release procedure, there's a possibility that radioactive materials may be released into the air. But the amount is minimal.

• 7:30am

  Japan's nuclear safety agency says some radiation has now seeped outside the plant, prompting calls for further evacuation of the area, says the Associated Press news agency.
• 7:15am

  More reports from the Fukushima nuclear plant - radiation levels at a central control unit in the "No.1 reactor" have reached 1,000 times normal, a trade ministry official told Reuters. But that's not a level that would require workers to evacuate the plant, the official said.

  Meanwhile, nuclear watcdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said that cooling systems at the "No.2 reactor" have also been damaged, and that work is underway to repair them.

  The 3km evacuation zone has been expanded to 10km, said prime minister Naoto Kan, before embarking on a tour of the earthquake-hit area.

  The IAEA has released a statement, saying:

  Three reactors at the plant were operating at the time of the earthquake, and the water level in each of the reactor vessels remains above the fuel elements, according to Japanese authorities.
  
  The IAEA’s Incident and Emergency Centre continues to liaise with the Japanese authorities, and is in full response mode to monitor the situation closely round the clock.

• 7:07am

  This is a picture of Fukushima nuclear power station, where officials are reportedly dealing with a crisis in radiation levels.

  

  [Picture: Reuters]
• 6:56am

  There may be some accuracy to these reports of increased danger at Fukushima nuclear power plant. AP is now reporting radiation levels have surged outside the facility, and Japanese officials have expanded the area subject to evacuation.
• 6:46am

  AFP is quoting the Kyodo News Agency as reporting the Japan safety panel saying radiation at the Fukushima nuclear power plant has reached levels 1,000 times of normal levels.

  You can be sure we'll bring you more on those reports. 

  Pressure has been building at the nuclear plant after a reactor's cooling system was damaged in the earthquake.

  Meanwhile, contrary to earlier reports, officials say that the US did not deliver nuclear coolant material, and that Japanese authorities handled the situation themselves.
• 6:40am

  Chile's Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter has just ordered a massive "preventative" evacuation of areas considered "flood prone" along the country's 4,200 km coastline. The evacuation must be complete within the next five hours - by 0230 GMT (1130JST) - except in a few of the most southern cities, which have an extra 2.5hours to move their citizens.

  The government there is asking people to remain calm.
• 6:21am

  Tsunami waves expected to hit Easter Island in around an hour. Officials in Chile say a third of the island's 5,000 population have been evacuated.
• 6:10am

  John Large, independent nuclear safety analyst, tells Al Jazeera that Japanese officials will have to manage a balancing act at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

  He says there is a risk of exposing the public if they try to contain radioactive steam, once vented from the reactor, in the secondary dome - as it may also have been damaged during the earthquake. This means there may be a leak.

  However, not venting the steam - as the pressure in the reactor builds - may lead to a much worse danger being posed.
• 6:02am

  More than 4million buildings in Tokyo and its suburbs are without power, say Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
• 5:54am

  The US coastguard has launched MH-65C helicopters in a bid to find a man carried away by waves on the nothern California shoreline, not far from Crescent City, where some 35 boats were damaged in port - the worst damage reported so far along the west coast of the US.

  The coastguard issued a statement, saying:

  A man was swept out to sea by a wave after he and two friends reportedly travelled to the shoreline to take photos of the incoming tsunami waves.

• 5:49am

  Would-be travellers sleep in the lobby of Haneda airport in Tokyo after the earthquake and tsunami caused major disruption to travel infrastructure:

  

  [Picture: Reuters]
• 5:41am

  More eyewitness reports coming in.

  Jesse Johnson, from Nevada in the US was with his wife, eating at a sushi restaurant in Chiba, north of Tokyo, when the quake hit. He told AP news agency:

  At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table. I've lived in Japan for ten years, and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming.

  It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake.

• 5:39am

  Toyota, Nissan and Honda have halted production at some assembly plants in areas hit by the quake. One worker was killed and more than 30 injured after being crushed by a collapsing wall at a Honda research facility in north-eastern Tochigi prefecture, the company said.
• 5:33am

  More on that "small radioactive leak" from Fukushima nuclear power plant, which was damaged by the earthquake. Thousands of residents in the area have been moved out of harm's way, said Japanese officials.

  The plant, where cooling systems were knocked out by the quake, is 240km north of Tokyo.

  Pressure building in the plant was set to be released soon, a move that could result in a radiation leak, officials said.

  Some 3,000 people who live within a 3km radius of the plant have been evacuated, Kyodo news agency said. Cabinet chief Yukio Edanotol reporters:

  It's possible that radioactive material in the reactor vessel could leak outside but the amount is expected to be small and the wind blowing towards the sea will be considered.

  Residents are safe, after those within a 3km radius were evacuated, and those within a 10km radius staying indoors - so we want people to be calm.

  Prime Minister Naoto Kan will visit the plant later this Saturday morning, and also fly over the quake-hit area, he said.
• 5:21am

  This map has appeared online, with overlays including tectonic plate boundaries, the "shake strength", measured by the US Geological Service, and government shelters provided for those in need. To get a live version, and to interact with it yourself, click here. Note: The epicentre of the earthquake is marked with a star.

  
• 5:15am

  New Zealand officials have raised their tsunami alert, after earlier saying there was no threat to land.

  "A minor land threat - wave heights just over one metre - now exists",civil defence said in a bulletin, warning people in coastal areas to stay off beaches.

  Prime Minister John Key said he watched "in horror" the scenes from the earthquake and tsunami and said New Zealanders' thoughts were with the victims in Japan, which sent rescue teams to Christchurch to help recover bodies after a quake struck there recently.
  
  "Our hearts go out to the Japanese government and its people," he said, extending sympathy to those who have been caught up in "this most terrible event."

  Japan responded to New Zealand's own tragic earthquake with enormous support, and we are ready to help our friends in Japan at this time of need in whatever way we can.

  There are 756 New Zealanders known to be in Japan, with about 100 in the worst-affected northeastern area, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
• 5:09am

  The Red Cross has set up a website to help people who are looking for family members hit by the earthquake and tsunami.

  People both in Japan and abroad can register names on the site or consult the list, while those in Japan can
  inform their family and friends that they are safe and provide contact details. In a statement, the ICRC said:

  Thousands of people in Japan and elsewhere have lost contact with family members because of the earthquake and tsunami ...  the main areas affected are the prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima, Tochigi and Ibaraki.

  To access the Japan Family Links Network website, you can click here.
• 5:04am

  Online scammers may try to exploit the twin disasters in Japan, computer users are being warned. The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team said:

  Phishing emails and websites requesting donations for bogus charitable organisations commonly appear after these types of natural disasters.

• 5:00am

  The death toll from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami is expected to reach at least 1,000.
• 4:54am

  Officials at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant will release "slightly radioactive vapour" to ease pressure in one of the reactors after the cooling system failed following the huge earthquake.

  The reactor had earlier shut down, but power was cut to the pumps delivering coolant to the reactor.  Japan's nuclear safety agency says pressure inside one of the reactors reached 1.5times the level considered normal.

  The US air force has also flown in nuclear coolant material, Hillary Clinton revealed earlier.
• 4:53am

  Japan has requested "a limited number" of search and rescue teams from the UN, says a UN spokesman.
• 4:44am

  Here's the full text of what US President Obama had to say about Japan earlier this morning (2:35am Japan Standard Time):

  I want to say a few words about the terrible earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan earlier today.
  
  First and foremost, our thoughts and our prayers are with the people of Japan.  This is a potentially catastrophic disaster and the images of destruction and flooding coming out of Japan are simply heartbreaking.  Japan is, of course, one of our strongest and closest allies, and this morning I spoke with Prime Minister Kan.  On behalf of the American people, I conveyed our deepest condolences, especially to the victims and their families, and I offered our Japanese friends whatever assistance is needed.
  
  We currently have an aircraft carrier in Japan, and another is on its way.  We also have a ship en route to the Marianas Islands to assist as needed.  The Defence Department is working to account for all our military personnel in Japan.  U.S. Embassy personnel in Tokyo have moved to an offsite location.  And the State Department is working to account for and assist any and all American citizens who are in the country.
  
  Tsunami warnings have been issued across the Pacific, and we’ve already seen initial waves from the tsunami come ashore on Guam and other U.S. territories, in Alaska and Hawaii, as well as on -- along the West Coast.  Here in the United States, there hasn’t been any major damage so far.  But we're taking this very seriously, and we are monitoring the situation very closely.  FEMA is fully activated and is coordinating with state and local officials to support these regions as necessary.  And let me just stress that if people are told to evacuate, do as you are told. 
  
  Today’s events remind us of just how fragile life can be.  Our hearts go out to our friends in Japan and across the region and we’re going to stand with them as they recover and rebuild from this tragedy.

• 4:22am

  Though this map of overnight shelters in Tokyo may not be hugely useful if you don't read Japanese, it does show the sheer number of places that have been set up to provide safe accommodation for those who cannot return home.  The map has been provided courtesy of freelance journalist Nobuyuki Hayashi - @nobi

  And if you would like a live version of the map, click here.

  
• 4:10am

  Another earthquake has just struck north-west Japan - this one measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale. This is pretty strong, though the quake which hit 23 hours ago measured 8.9.

  Despite the smaller magnitude, the risk of this event - and more potential small quakes to come - stems from the fact that many buildings not completely destroyed have already been significantly damaged, and remain vulnerable.
• 3:58am

  At a magnitude of 8.9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake off the coast of Japan is being described as one of the worst in recorded history. It struck undersea off the east coast of Japan's northern Honshu island and sent devastating tsunami waves crashing ashore, killing hundreds.
  
  Night has now fallen over Japan as the search and rescue effort begins - but it promises to be a massive undertaking. Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee reports on the twin disasters overwhelming the nation.
• 3:54am

  This amzing footage has been posted online, purporting to show the devastating effect of the tsunami wave on the city of Miyako in Iwate, north-east Japan.
• 3:48am

  The US military has a very large presence on the Japanese island of Okinawa- and according to the department of defence,  Japan has now officially asked the US for assistance.
  
  The following ships are being prepared to deploy:
  
  The USS Tortuga (amphibious craft) - in Japan, leaving for disaster zone tonight.
  
  The USS Essex (larger amphibious ship) carryign 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit - in Malaysia - leaving tonight.
  
  The USS Blue Ridge (Command and Control Ship) Singapore - on way to disaster zone tomorrow morning.
  
  The USS Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group - currently in the Western Pacific - is on its way now. It can transport aid with helicopters - and has water desalination and medical facilities.
• 3:46am

  US defence secretary Robert Gates:

  I've been kept informed all day long about the tsunami in Japan, the earthquake and tsunami.  As best we can tell, all of our people are OK, our ships and military facilities are all in pretty good shape.  We obviously have huge sympathy for the people of Japan and we are prepared to help them in any way we possibly can.  It's obviously a very sophisticated country, but this is a huge disaster and we will do all, anything we are asked to do to help out.

• 3:38am

  Ritsuko Allen, is a 40-year-old resident of Aioi in Hyogo, southwest Japan, and spoke to Al Jazeera's D.Parvaz.
  
  She said she didn't feel the earthquake today, but when she finally managed to reach her family hours later, she was relieved to hear that the family home was only "messed up" by the quake.

  Allen lived in Tokyo in 1995, when the Kobe earthquake hit, and thought to herself today: "It if hit Tokyo, (it'll) be done. No way to survive."

  She said she knows people in Sendai and doesn't know if they're alive. She said that local reports say that 300 have died and 530 are missing.

  "I dont know they are ok or not. I pray for them," said Allen, who added she's in shock with "so many people gone ... in the sea."
• 3:19am

  AFP news agency is quoting Japan's trade minister as saying "a small radiation leak could occur" at Fukushima nuclear plant - after officials said a pressure build-up had occurred in one of the power station's reactors.
• 3:17am

  Attorney Clint Conner, husband of Christine (interviewed earlier), works in the Marunouchi area near the busy Tokyo station, a business district with lots of tall buildings. He spoke to Al Jazeera's D.Parvaz.
  
  He said that having lived in northern California, he'd experienced quakes before, "but never really felt them" - he said he notices or feels an earthquake about every two or three weeks in Tokyo.
  
  "I was in a conference room preparing for a meeting," said Conner.

  It didn’t take long to realise this was bigger than anything I had felt before and was prepared to feel.  My mind quickly went from preparing for the meeting to getting out of the building and my family.  Going down the stairwell was frightening.  I could feel the guy behind me pressing me.  I thought the stairwell would collapse inward.  I missed the handle to the door leading to the lobby because the building was shaking so hard.... I really felt like the building was going to come down.  It was loud and the shaking was violent.

  He said that it took about 20 minutes for everyone to evacuate the building, and that "the scene outside was amazing", with people crying, in shock. 

  Tall buildings were swaying like palm trees – their window dressings smacking the windows and lights swaying wildly. There is a building under construction across from mine with cranes on the roof.  The cranes were clanking against each other and making an awful sound.  It seemed they would fall any minute.

  With transportation systems down, Conner had to walk home to the Roppongi district.

  I walked home with a mass of humanity. This is a city of 18million in tight quarters. You can imagine how many people were walking on the streets, considering no one wanted to be inside buildings, and the trains were not running.

  He said that people were "fairly calm" once it became clear that buildings would not collapse.
  
  Conner is very impressed at how the authorities have handled things.

  My deepest respect goes out to the Japanese government, city planners, architects, and construction workers for doing a mind-blowing job of building a city ... We just experienced the fifth largest earthquake on record - the largest ever recorded in Japan's history - but the city remains relatively safe and the utilities are working.

• 3:05am

  Japanese media in Tokyo are reporting 300 dead, 722 injured and 537 missing, Hyogo resident Ritsuko Allen tells Al Jazeera.

  Liquefaction is happening at the Tokyo Disneyland parking lot ... many school, university and government buildings are open for people who cannot go home in Tokyo.

  Liquefaction is the process by which sand and water normally trapped several metres underground bubbles to the surface.
• 2:51am

  Buildings burn in Yamada town, Iwate Prefecture in north-east Japan, following the earthquake.

  

  [Picture: Reuters]
• 2:49am

  Carolyn Miles of Save The Children tells Al Jazeera they are concerned about children having been separated from their parents by the disaster.

  It is expected there will be a huge international response. The aid will have to come from a lot of different places. These are hard places to get to in the northern-most part of Japan - but we have people on the way.

  For children, reunifying them with their families is key. And to get them back into a routine, as the trauma can be very significant.

  In Japan, I think we will do a lot of that work - but immediately, it's about getting people what they need to survive, such as drinking water.

• 2:38am

  President Obama is diverting an aircraft carrier and other warships stationed in the Pacific Ocean to Japan to help with relief efforts. This means thousands of US Marines, as well as electricity supplies, medical facilities and pumping systems will be made available to join Japanese recovery efforts.
• 2:37am

  Barack Obama, US president, speaks after waves caused by the earthquake reach American shores. While the islands of Hawaii are more at risk than the mainland, he tells citizens: 

  If you're told to evacuate, do as you're told.

• 2:16am

  A quick correction: a number of viewers have pointed out that the video we posted at 7.22pm appears to have been taken in New Zealand during the earthquake there, as opposed to in Japan. Our apologies for that. As we've said before, we can't always verify the authenticity of videos posted on external websites, but we welcome your comments to help us track them down!
• 2:09am

  As a reminder, you can watch our rolling live coverage of the aftermath of the earthquake online. If you live in the United States and your cable provider does not broadcast Al Jazeera, don't forget to Demand Al Jazeera!
• 2:07am

  Live pictures from a marina in Santa Monica, California, show that several boats have broken their moorings, but there does not appear to be any major damage after the first waves from the tsunami hit.
• 2:03am

  Nearly 6,000 residents living in a three-kilometre radius of the Fukushima No 1 nuclear power plant, where a cooling failure was reported, have now been ordered to evacuate.

  The reactor shut down after the earthquake, but a cooling system failure led to concerns, though the government has said the situation is "under control". The US, as reported earlier, has delivered coolant to the plant.

  "An instruction has been issued to residents within a radius of three kilometres to evacuate and those within three to 10 kilometres to stay indoors," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano.

  "This is an evacuation instruction just for precaution, and there has been no radiation leak from the reactor." 
• 1:29am

  The Bank of Japan says it will be cutting down a two-day policy review session scheduled for next week to just one day on Monday, and promises that it will do its best to ensure financial markets remain stable.

  Economists have expressed concern over what effect the economic fallout of the earthquake and tsunami will have on a country that has been attempting to emerge from an economic slump.
• 1:26am

  No major damage has been reported after the first waves from the tsunami hit the US mainland coast in the states of Hawaii, Alaska and Oregon, the Associated Press reports.

   Waves about 7 feet high were recorded on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and 3 feet on the islands of Oahu and Kauai.

  Meanwhile, two US Navy submarines broke their moorings in Guam after being hit by the wave, but tug boats were able to tow the ships back to the pier. No damage was reported, either to those ships, or the larger US Navy fleet in Hawaii.

  
  
• 1:22am

  This video, purportedly shot in a Tokyo supermarket, shows the grocery store being buffetted by the geological waves of the earthquake.
• 1:14am

  Japan's military is preparing a massive rescue and relief effort, with thousands of troops, 300 planes and 40 naval ships being deployed to perform reconnaissance and rescue missions.

  Twenty naval destroyers and other ships have been sent to the devastated Pacific coast area of Honshu Island, while about 25 air force fighter jets are currently flying reconnaissance missions.

  Army helicopters are rescuing hundreds of people stranded at an elementary school in Watari, Miyagi prefecture, the Kyodo news agency reports.

  The US has 50,000 troops based in the country, and Takeaki Matsumoto, the Japanese foreign minister, has requested the US Ambassador to Japan to allow to support relief efforts.
• 1:08am

  A dam in Japan's northeastern Fukushima prefecture has broken, causing homes to be washed away, the Kyodo news agency reports.
• 1:05am

  Reuters reports that the United States has transported coolant to a Japanese nuclear plant that was affected by the earthquake. The report quotes Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, as saying:

  We just had our Air Force assets in Japan transport some really important coolant to one of the nuclear plants. You know Japan is very reliant on nuclear power and they have very high engineering standards, but one of their plants came under a lot of stress with the earthquake and didn't have enough coolant.

• 1:00am

  The first waves from the tsunami caused by the earthquake have now reached the US mainland, along the Oregan coast.

  Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu says high water reached Port Orford, Oregan at about 1530GMT (approximately half an hour ago). Warning sirens had been activated hours earlier by disaster management authorities, alerting people to leave the area.

  In Alaska, the tsunami caused a wave of just over five feet at Shemya, in the Aleutian Islands (1,900km southwest of Anchorage). 
• 12:56am

  Al Jazeera has a new photo gallery of the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami across Japan. You can access it here.

  
• 12:52am

  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has released the following statement:

  I join President Obama in offering our sincere condolences for the loss of life and damage caused by the earthquake and tsunamis in Japan. We are closely monitoring the tsunamis that may impact other parts the world, including Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States. 

  "The U.S. Government has offered immediate disaster relief assistance, and we are working closely with the Government of Japan to provide additional help.  Our consular officers in Japan and in the United States are working to gather information and assist U.S. citizens in Japan who may have been affected by the earthquake.

  "The United States is an unwavering friend and ally of Japan, and we are committed to helping Japan respond and recover.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan during this difficult time." 

  
  

• 12:50am

  Tony McNicol, a journalist in Tokyo, tells Al Jazeera that even that far from the epicentre, it was clear to people that the earthquake was a major one. He says people in Japan "are used to earthquakes" and did not panic, at least in Tokyo.
• 12:20am

  
  

  Christine Conner, an American living in Tokyo since 2009 with her husband, Clint, an attorney, and their three children, told Al Jazeera's D. Parvaz she realised how bad things were when her Japanese friends "looked ashen or in tears".

  "They are usually stoic and the Westerners are the hysterical ones!"

  She said that that the earthquake struck shortly after she picked up two of her daughters, aged four and six, from school.

  "They were happily frolicking with four of their friends when one of the other mums looked over and said, 'It's an earthquake.' I couldn't yet feel it, and looked at her suspiciously. She followed this up with, 'It's the Big One.'" said Conner. 

  
  

  "That's when I started feeling seasick. I gathered the girls to me, mother-hen-like, yelling for them to sit. Other children and mothers started running in our direction, some in outright panic."

  Being a California native, Conner did not panic initially, but, as she said, "It just didn't stop." 

  "[I] looked up and saw 40-story buildings swaying just in front of me and wondered what people thought in Haiti before their houses fell on top of them."

  Conner also said there are "constant reminders" of the 1995 earthquake, which killed roughly 6,000 people.  

  "When you move into an apartment, the first thing you are shown is the evacuation maps and the emergency stash. There are several stories about 1995 - how bad the response was, how horrible the devastation was, and how much was learned," she said.

  This time, though, she said that "authorities were out immediately. There were sirens sounding, with instructions that followed. I was near the girls' school, where they have standards in place for such an event. The teachers and principal came out to speak with us.
  
  "Additionally, emergency personnel were roaming the neighbourhood."

  
  
• 12:07am

  Reports now that residents in coastal parts of northern California have evacuated their homes ahead of an expected tsunami.
  
  Authorities have warned that waves could reach two metres when the tsunami reaches the shores.
  
  Large waves triggered by the Japanese earthquake  have hit Taiwan, Indonesia and Hawaii, but there have been no reports of damage so far. 

  
  

  FRIDAY MARCH 11
• 11:50pm

  Osman Demirtas, a 29-year-old Turkish man living in Yokohama, just west of Tokyo, has told Al Jazeera's D. Parvaz he walked the 22km journey home from his office in the capital after transport was halted following the quake.
  
  "As precaution for another quakes, all transportation is stopped in Tokyo metropolitan area. Some people are walking and some will stay over workplace," Demirtas, a financial controller, said.

  "There were thousands walking home at the beginning and now I am in Yokohama city, there are only tens of people. People are quite calm, enjoying walking. And some drinking beer."
• 11:45pm

  More video amateur video from Japan, taken by panic-stricken residents during the earthquake:
  
   
• 10:35pm

  Global markets have further responded to the Japanese disaster, with shares in two top US insurers - AIG and XL Group Plc falling. Shares in Japan's top insurance company, Aflac, have also dropped by as much as three per cent.
  
  Stocks in European insurance companies have also plunged, with a number of firms saying they expect to be significantly affected by the quake. Traders are worried about expensive claims. And insurers are already dealing with the aftermath of the powerful earthquake in New Zealand last month, which has been estimated to incur insured losses of up to $12bn.
• 10:30pm

  The United Nations is adding its voice to those pledging support for Japan. Ban Ki-moon, the secretary-general, said the body would "do anything and everything" to help the quake and tsunami-hit nation. 

  "The world is shocked and saddened by the images coming out of Japan this morning," Ban said.
  
  "We will do anything and everything we can at this very difficult time."

• 11:22pm

  More on earlier reports of bodies being found in the Japanese town of Sendai.
  
  Local news agencies report that up to 300 bodies were reported found in the Wakabayashi ward of the quake and tsunami-hit town. Officials said nearly all of the 1,200 homes in the district were hit by the tsunami.
  
  And a search is now underway for a ship carrying at least 80 people that was swept away when the wave hit.  
• 11:06pm

  Waves from the earthquake-triggered tsunami have hit the shores of Hawaii, local TV has reported.
  
  No damage has been reported from the relatively small waves, which were measured at around half a metre high, the AFP news agency said. 
• 11:00pm

  A few other web-based tools for people in Tokyo struggling in the aftermath of the earthquake.
  
  This map aims to show people  stuck in the capital without a means of getting home where open shelters are in the city.
  
  And this one reportedly shows places where free wifi is available. Both of these courtesy of freelance journalist @nobi 
• 10:45pm

  Japan's earthquake is one of the most powerful to hit since records began. Find out more with our timeline on other devastating quakes around the world in recent years.
  
   And click here for more expert advice on why Japan is so prone to this type of devastation.
• 10:35pm

  A few reports coming in from the northern city of Sendai, which bore the full brunt of the quake, saying that police have discovered "hundreds" of bodies along the coast.

  
  Separately, Google has now set up a crisis response page, aiming to provide emergency information.   http://www.google.co.jp/intl/en/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
  It follows a similar one set up in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand.
• 9:45pm

  A ship carrying 100 people has been swept away by the tsunami off Japan's coast, the Kyodo news agency has reported, saying its whereabouts are still unknown.
  
  Meanwhile authorities have told residents living near the Fukushima nuclear plant, hit by a fire earlier, to evacuate the area.
  
  Authorities said peole living  in a two kilometre radius of the No.2 reactor of the Fukushima No.1 plant should leave.
  
  Tokyo Electric Power Co, which operates the plant, is still working to maintain water levels to avert the exposure of nuclear fuel rods, the Reuters news agency said.
  
• 9:19pm

  The European Union has said it would "mobilise all appropriate assistance" to Japan in response to the quake.
  
  China has also said its rescue workers are on standby to go to the area and had put personnel, equipment and medicine in place. 
• 9:11pm

  Images of 10-metre tsunami that hit near Sendai - where tide of black water sent cars and debris swirling: 
• 8:54pm

  A tweet from the State Department spokesman:

  PJCrowley Philip J. Crowley 

  We have been in touch with the #Japanese government and we stand ready to provide whatever assistance needed in response to the #tsunami.
• 8:49pm

  Adding to the unfolding chaos is another concern, that of the global markets. Already affected by spiralling oil and food prices, there are fears the Japan earthquake will hit Asian markets and those beyond.
  
  So far Japanese stock futures have fallen 3.3 per cent, but the yen currency has recovered from an initial dip in the day.

  Major southeastern Asian stock markets have also fallen more than one per cent in the wake of the disaster.
  
  In Europe the insurance section has lost out due to worries over the prospect of claims from the earthquake. However analysts are saying it is too early to tell what the wider or long term effects will be. 
• 8:43pm

  Barack Obama, the US president, has offered his condolences to the people of Japan.
  
  "Michelle [Obama] and I send our deepest condolences to the people of Japan, particularly those who have lost loved ones in the earthquake and tsunamis," he said in a statement on Friday.
  
  The president said he would monitor the tsunami triggered by the massive quake, and urged citizens in places expected to be affected to listen to their local authorities.
  
  A tsunami is expected to reach Hawaii within the next few hours.  
• 8:39pm

  Steff Gaulter, Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist has been explaining the scale of the tsunami effect across the Pacific Rim.
  
  She said the lack of friction in the sea means there's nothing to slow the waves down.
  
  "Say you have a little toy, you push it along a desk, it will eventually stop - friction will slow it down. But in the sea there's not a great deal there so the waves will just keep going.

  "Also these waves travel incredibly fast - we're talking about 12 hours to get to the north island of New Zealand. Flying from Japan to New Zealand wouldn't take much less than that."
• 8:29pm

  Gavin Blair, a freelance journalist in Tokyo, has told Al Jazeera of the moment the earthquake was felt in the city.

  I was on the ground floor of a building in Tokyo that began to shake, gently at first and then vigorously. Some people were going out into the streets, others were going under tables.
  
  "The aftershocks were still hitting us three hours later," he said, adding it was the biggest quake he had felt in 14 years.

  Blair said regular quake drills and quake-proofed buildings have definitely helped save lives in the country, but that there was little authorities could do in the face of the tsunami.
• 8:28pm

  Why Japan is prone to earthquakes: Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist, Steff Gaulter, gives her expert insight: 
• 8:18pm

  More now on the Fukushima nuclear plant affected by the earthquake: Japan has issued at state of emergency at the plant after a cooling system failure. Authorities say there is no radiation leak but they are having trouble cooling the plant.
  
  Earlier a fire was reported in the turbine building of the plant in Miyagi prefecture. 
• 8:09pm

  Step Vaessen, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jakarta, said the Indonesian province of Papua is expected to be hit by a small tsunami not higher  than 80cm high within the next 30 minutes.
  
  "In the last hour they [authorities] have worked really hard to make sure people have been evacuated from the beaches," she said.
  
  Just to put that height in perspective - the devastating tsunami of December 2004 saw waves 10-15m high hit the coast of Sumatra. 
• 7:53pm

  Back to the tsunami warning, New Zealand has now issued its own warning for the country and has warned people to stay clear of beaches.
  
  The Civil Defence said waves less than one metre in height were expected at the coastline.  

  In Taiwan authorities have said small tsunamis have hit their coastline without causing any damage. However the country has kept its tsunami warning in place. 
• 7:53pm

  For scenes from the moment the quake struck, check out this report from Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee:
• 7:38pm

  The death toll how now reached at least 29 people, police and authorities have said, while some news agencies are putting it as high as 32.
  
  According to the AFP news agency the dead include a 67-year-old man crushed by a wall and an elderly woman killed by a fallen roof in greater Tokyo.
  
  It quotes the National Police Agency as saying "the damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data".

  Meanwhile a fire has also broken out in the turbine building of a nuclear plant in the Miyagi prefecture, local news agencies said. A fire broke out in the turbine building of 

  Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture on Friday, Kyodo News reported, raising concerns of a radioactive leak.
  
  Earlier Naoto Kan, the prime minister, said no radiation leaks had been reported from any of Japan's nuclear power stations, and four plants closest to the quake had been safely shut down.
• 7:22pm

  A number of amateur videos from Japan are surfacing on YouTube, showing chaos unfolding as the earthquake struck, including this one said to be taken in Tokyo:
• 7:15pm

  A tsunami is expected to hit Indonesia within the hour, authorities say.

  Step Vaessen, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jakarta, said: "Lots of people are going away from the beaches because they are hearing from other sources, not from the authorities, that a tsunami might hit."
  
  But the country is only expecting small waves to hit, she said. "It's a very different picture than what we're hearing from the Philippines."
• 7:05pm

  The death toll from the earthquake has now reached 17, according to the Japanese government.
  
  The disaster triggered fires in the north-east of the country, including at gas storage tanks at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city, Chiba Prefecture, near the capital Tokyo.
  
   Photo courtesy of Reuters
• 7:00pm

  Aid agencies are voicing concern for the Asia Pacific region as tsunami warnings are issued. 

  The Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have said that waves reaching more than one metre high could wash right over some islands in the Pacific. 

  Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, reporting from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, said the potential effects of this "could spread very rapidly over the next few hours".
• 6:49pm

  Some of the nations for which the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has issued alerts for includes: Russia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru and Canada.
  
  However not all of those nations are issuing their own alerts. The Tsunami Warning Centre of Australia has denied a threat to the country, and in New Zealand, which was recently hit by a devastating earthquake, Civil Defence has not issued its own warning, saying it was assessing the threat.  
• 6:42pm

  Tsunami warnings are being issued around the Pacific, from the coast of Russia and Hawaii to Australia and New Zealand.
  
  In Taiwan, the coast guard has been evacuating its east coast with waves 50cm high expected to reach the island later in the day. Hawaii has been making similar moves, with tsunami waves expected to hit within the next three hours.
• 6:39pm

  Google has launched an online service for people to post and search for information about victims:http://japan.person-finder.appspot.com
  
• 6:32pm

  Friday's massive earthquake is Japan's biggest ever and the seventh largest on record, according to data from the US Geological Survey.
  
  Those others include the 9.1 magnitude earthquake that struck Indonesia on December 26, 2004 which left more than 220,000 people dead.

  The biggest earthquake on record was a 9.5 one off the coast of Chile in May 1960, that killed around 1,600 people.