Japanese earthquake and tsunami

This video is called Explosion at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant, at least 4 injured.

The people of Japan have been struck by the largest quake in the country’s history, followed by tsunamis that have washed away thousands of homes: here.

A WSWS reader in Japan sent a report overnight on the earthquake’s impact in Tokyo and northern prefectures: here.

Japan up to 10,000 people missing in one town. The Guardian: here.

Martin Fackler and Matthew L. Wald, The New York Times News Service: “An explosion at a crippled nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Saturday blew the roof off one building and caused a radiation leak of unspecified proportions, escalating the emergency confronting Japan’s government a day after an earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of the country’s northeastern coast. Japanese television showed a cloud of white-gray smoke from the explosion billowing up from a stricken reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Saturday afternoon, and officials said leaks of radiation from the plant prompted them to expand the evacuation area around the facility to a 12-mile radius”: here.

Suvendrini Kakuchi, IPS: “Heightened tension on Saturday after a blast at a nuclear facility in Fukushima, 150 kilometres north of Tokyo, eased off after the government reported that the danger had been overstated. But anti-nuclear experts continued to express concern. ‘There are many areas that remain unclear in the government’s explanation, which is why we cannot accept that the coast is clear,’ Professor Hiroaki Koiwa from the Research Reactor Institute at the national Kyoto University told IPS”: here.

Japan ministers ignored safety warnings over nuclear reactors: here.

Fukushima crisis: Anatomy of a meltdown: here.

USA: Kevin Donohoe, ThinkProgress: “Congressional Republicans’ 2011 budget would slash funding for government agencies directly responsible for issuing tsunami warnings and severely reduce the government’s capacity to track and respond to these disasters, the president of the union that represents employees of the National Weather Service told ThinkProgress today in the wake of the tragic tsunami in the Pacific. The House Republican budget, which was rejected by the Senate this week, would have cut funding to NOAA – the agency directly responsible for tsunami monitoring and warning – restricting the government’s ability to respond”: here.