Japan earthquake, Tsunami....Tsunami Warning Hawaii maybe west coast
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Japan quake: live report
AFP NewsBy Nick Morrison | AFP News – Sat, Mar 12, 2011 1:07 AM PHT
1700 GMT: I'm now handing over to my colleagues in Washington -- stay with us for all the latest news following the huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan at 14:46 local time (0546 GMT) Friday.
Here's a recap of the key points following the 8.9-magnitude quake -- the strongest ever to hit Japan -- which struck off the northeastern coast of the main island of Honshu, triggering a huge tsunami along Japan's Pacific coast.
-- The 10-metre (33-foot) wave of black water generated by the quake -- the seventh biggest ever recorded -- pulverised the northeastern city of Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, where police reportedly said 200-300 bodies had been found on the coast.
-- More than 90 people have been confirmed killed in addition to the bodies found on the Sendai coast, public broadcaster NHK reported.
-- The wave set off tsunami alerts across the Pacific, including in the US state of Hawaii and in many Latin American nations from Mexico to Chile, where seaside populations were urged to take precautions.
-- A Japanese ship with 100 people aboard was reportedly carried away while more than 300 houses were destroyed in the remote city of Ofunato in Miyagi Prefecture.
-- The government said the tsunami and quake, which was felt in Beijing some 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) away, had caused "tremendous damage", while aerial footage showed massive flooding in northern towns.
-- The quake, which struck about 250 miles (400km) north-east of Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles 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, millions who had earlier fled swaying buildings were stranded far away from home in the evening after the earthquake shut down the capital's vast subway system. The mobile phone network was strained to breaking point.
-- There was also major disruption to air travel and bullet train services. A passenger train with an unknown number of people aboard was unaccounted for on a line outside Sendai, Kyodo News agency reported.
1652 GMT: Tsunami waves triggered by Japan's devastating earthquake have begun arriving on the US West Coast, some 12 hours after the tremor struck, my colleagues in Portland, Oregon, are reporting, citing officials and witnesses.
"The tsunami has arrived now and the ocean is surging as though it were between high tide and low tide every 30 minutes instead of the usual six hours," said Mike Murphy, emergencies chief in Port Orford, Oregon.
"It's definitely the tsunami waves doing it," he told AFP, adding bigger waves were expected in the coming hours.
1645 GMT: My colleagues from Tokyo are reporting apocalyptic scenes from across the country, with fires breaking out from severed gas mains and an oil refinery ablaze in Chiba prefecture outside Tokyo belching acrid smoke into the skies.
As aftershocks continue to rock Japan, the army has readied to deploy thousands of troops and hundreds of ships and planes to help those in need, with the desperate rescue effort became more complex as night fell.
1629 GMT: US markets sank on Friday, my colleagues in New York report, as traders grappled with the economic impact of the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan, the world's third largest economy.
Stocks fell and oil and commodity prices tumbled as traders struggled to measure the effects of a disaster in one of the world's most important and inter-connected markets.
"Anyone who tells you that they have a handle on the economic consequences of this event is wrong," said Carl Weinberg, a top economist with High Frequency Economics, reflecting the market's nervousness.
"There is no way to assess even the direct damage to Japan's economy or to the global economy. This is a sad day for Japan, and economic aftershocks could affect the whole world's economy."
1624 GMT: A US Navy ship docked south of Los Angeles has been ordered out into open water as a precautionary measure due to a tsunami racing across the Pacific Ocean, a spokesman has told my colleagues in the Los Angeles bureau.
The USS Dubuque was told to steam out of Seal Beach to safer waters in the Pacific ahead of the expected arrival of waves from the tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake near Japan, said Seal Beach police spokesman Steve Bowles.
There was no immediate announcement about movement of US Navy vessels docked further south down the California coast in San Diego, home to the Pacific Fleet.
1618 GMT: At least 337 people were killed in Friday's massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off Japan, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast, my colleagues in Tokyo report citing police and press reports.
The National Police Agency said 137 people had been confirmed dead and 531 missing, with 627 others injured in the tremor.
"The death toll has yet to include the 200-300 dead bodies which were (reportedly) found on the beach of Sendai," a spokesman for the agency said.
1605 GMT: Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake off Japan's coast is also the seventh largest in history and biggest ever to hit Japan, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
1556 GMT: A reminder that Friday's quake off the Japanese coast is the largest earthquake to strike since more than 220,000 people were killed when a magnitude 9.1 hit off Indonesia in 2004, unleashing a massive tsunami that devastated coastlines in countries around the Indian Ocean as far away as Africa.
1550 GMT: A dam in Japan's northeast Fukushima Prefecture has broken and homes have been washed away, Kyodo news agency is reporting, following the biggest earthquake in the nation's history which struck off the coast at 14:46 local time (0546 GMT) on Friday.
1545 GMT: The United Nations says search and rescue teams from more than 45 countries are ready to head to quake and tsunami hit Japan if the Asian state needs help.
"More than 68 teams from more than 45 countries are on standby," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told AFP in Geneva.
The search and rescue teams mobilised under a UN disaster response network are monitoring the situation and ready to help should Japan request aid, she explained.
1535 GMT: Latin American nations from Mexico to Chile are warning seaside populations to take precautions -- and in some cases to evacuate their homes -- as they brace for a tsunami following Japan's powerful earthquake, my colleagues in Mexico City report.
Mexico, which was expecting the tsunami to work its way down its coast between 1545 GMT to 2045 GMT, warned of waves of about two metres (6.5 feet) and issued a bulletin for its Pacific coastline.
Tourists in the seaside resorts of Los Cabos and Acapulco were told to remain in their hotels far from the beaches.
Just to the south, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom ordered classes suspended in schools in three coastal provinces in his country and urged residents there to "get to high ground." Boats should not head out of harbor, he said.
El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica all issued tsunami alerts, with El Salvador saying it expected to see the effects around 2200 GMT. Nicaragua said that some 100,000 people along their coastline were potentially at risk, and expected the tsunami wave to arrive around 2230 GMT. Panama however issued no alert.
In nearby Colombia authorities were sanguine, saying they were "monitoring" waves they expected to be just 12 to 70 centimeters (20 to 28 inches) high when they arrived around 7:00 pm (0000 GMT Saturday).
Nevertheless, a representative of the Disaster Prevention Unit, Luz Amanda Pulido, told AFP people were barred from swimming or fishing on the coast.
But in Ecuador, President Rafael Correa ordered preventive coastal evacuations due to the "imminent threat" of a tsunami. He also issued a 60-day "state of exception" and ordered residents to evacuate the Galapagos Islands.
Domestic flights to the Galapagos and the coastal cities of Salinas, Esmeraldas, San Vicente and Manta were canceled for the day.
Peru's tsunami alert said the first wave should reach its coast between 6:00 and 8:00 pm local time (0000 to 0200 GMT Saturday). Its bulletin was one level below a tsunami "alarm."
In Chile -- still jittery after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the country in late February 2010 -- President Sebastian Pinera issued a "preventive alert," but told citizens to remain calm and continue normal life.
"If there are consequences, they should be felt in the final hours of the day. The population should remain informed," Pinera said.
1528 GMT: Japan's defence ministry is ready to deploy 300 military planes and 40 vessels for post-quake and tsunami relief, Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa says, according to Kyodo News agency.
1525 GMT: Millions of Japanese learnt about Friday's massive earthquake about one minute before they could feel its violent shockwaves, thanks to an early-warning system renowned to be the world's best, my colleagues in Tokyo report.
The sophisticated system is connected to network of about 1,000 seismometers around the country which detect and analyse primary waves of quakes and issue warnings if the tremors are predicted to be powerful.
Primary waves travel faster than secondary waves, which are much more destructive -- meaning that alarms about quakes can arrive moments before the earth starts to shake, just enough time to take cover.
"The system functioned well because warnings were seen on television across the country," Hirohito Naito, a seismic specialist at the Japan Meteorological Agency, told AFP.
1515 GMT: My colleague Kent Nishimura reporting from Honolulu says the largest wave to crash ashore in Hawaii -- some 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers) from the epicenter of the quake -- was measured as a six-foot (1.8-meter) surge and hit Kahului, Maui, officials said.
Geophysicist Gerard Fryer with the Pacific center said it was a "significant tsunami," but added Hawaii appeared to have been spared any major damage.
1503 GMT: US President Barack Obama has led the United States in offering "condolences" to the people of Japan, saying his country stood ready to help them after a massive earthquake and tsunami.
"(First Lady) Michelle 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.
"The United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial. The friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakable."
Vice President Joe Biden also offered the "thoughts and prayers of the American people" during an official visit to Moldova.
"We the United States stand ready to do anything we can to help our Japanese friends as they deal with the aftermath of this tragedy," Biden said.
1454 GMT: The US Navy says there has been no "significant damage" to its fleet or facilities in Japan after the massive earthquake off the coast triggered a tsunami.
"Currently, no reports of significant damage to installations and no damage to US Navy ships in Japan," it said in an official message on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
The US Pacific Fleet said there was no damage on the Pacific island of Guam, where it maintains a base, adding that it was "still awaiting the all clear."
The Pacific Fleet command said it would not be evacuating any personnel or sailing ships out of Pearl Harbor, on the southeastern side of Hawaii's Oahu Island, where the tsunami was expected to strike.
"Projected wave assessments inside harbor indicate no need to sortie ships. Taking all measures to ensure ships secure in port," it said on Twitter.
The Pacific Missile Range Facility on the nearby island of Kauai, however, ordered an "evacuation advisory," saying: "Munitions storage facility is the safe haven for personnel."
1444 GMT: At least 288 people have been killed in the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off Japan's east coast on Friday, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific shoreline, according to an AFP tally citing police and press reports in Japan.
The National Police Agency said 88 people had been confirmed dead and 349 missing, with 330 others injured in the tremor, my colleagues in Tokyo are reporting.
"The death toll doesn't include the 200-300 dead bodies which were (reportedly) found on the beach of Sendai," a spokesman for the agency said.
Around 200 to 300 bodies were found in a part of Japan's quake and tsunami hit Pacific coast town of Sendai, according to media reports.
Kyodo News and Jiji Press agency said the bodies were reported found in Sendai's Wakabayashi ward following the powerful seabed earthquake that sent a massive tsunami slamming into the coast.
Of the dead, 34 were found in Iwate prefecture, near the epicentre, the agency said. Three were killed in Tokyo.
1420 GMT: An update on the Jiji Press report I posted at 1240 GMT emerging from the small coastal town of Ofunato, north of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, where at least 300 houses have been destroyed and scores are reported missing.
The news agency are now saying police have received an unconfirmed report that 48 people are missing in the fishing town, 23 of whom were believed to be junior-high school students.
The town of 40,000 people gained tragic world fame in 1960 when it was hit by a huge tsunami triggered by a quake across the Pacific in Chile -- the latest of a string catastrophic tidal waves that have hit over the centuries.
1415 GMT: Reports of tsunami warnings around the Indian and Pacific Ocean region keep coming in -- my fellow reporters in Nairobi are saying Kenya's meteorological department has issued a tsunami alert to residents of the country's coastal region but said waves reaching the Indian Ocean coast would be weak.
The department said waves triggered by the powerful earthquake in Japan would reach the Kenyan coast early Saturday.
1406 GMT: More on the major explosion at a petrochemical plant complex in the northeastern Japanese city of Sendai.
TV images in Japan are showing huge orange balls of flame rolling up into the night sky as fires raged around the complex, my colleagues in Tokyo are reporting.
A huge fire also engulfed a Cosmo oil refinery in Iichihara near the Japanese capital as the quake brought huge disruption to Japan's key industries.
Sony Corp. has suspended production at its six plants in Miyagi Prefecture -- which has born the brunt of the magnitude 8.9-magnitude offshore quake and ensuing tsunami -- and its neighboring Fukushima Prefecture, it said, adding it has evacuated all employees there.
Car giant Nissan said it had suspended operations at four plants, with small fires breaking out at a facility in Fukushima and Kawachi County that had since been extinguished. It said two employees had suffered injuries.
1355 GMT: More from my fellow reporters in Honolulu where the first waves from the tsunami have reached Hawaii's shores, according to TV pictures broadcast there.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has reported seeing wave changes at Waianae Harbor at around 3:24 a.m (1324 GMT), shortly before the relatively small waves were seen at Waikiki, my colleagues tell me.
1350 GMT: There has been a major explosion at a petrochemical complex in the city of Sendai in northern Honshu island, following the tsunami triggered by a 8.9-magnitude quake off the coast, my colleagues in Tokyo are telling me, citing local media reports.
1344 GMT: Police in Japan's tsunami-hit city of Sendai say 200-300 bodies have been found on the coast, Japan's Jiji Press agency is reporting.
1340 GMT: The first waves to hit Hawaii from the tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake off Japan have washed up onshore at Waikiki, according to live TV images, my fellow reporters in Honolulu tell me.
1338 GMT: A passenger train with an unknown number of people aboard was unaccounted for in a tsunami-hit part of coastal Japan, my colleagues in Tokyo tell me Kyodo News is reporting, citing police.
The East Japan Railway Co. train was running near Nobiru Station on the Senseki Line connecting Sendai to Ishinomaki when a massive quake hit, triggering a 10-metre (33-foot) tsunami, the report said.
1330 GMT: My colleagues in Tokyo are now reporting that more than 90 people have been killed in the earthquake and ensuing tsunami, citing public broadcaster NHK.
The National Police Agency said at least 60 people had been killed and 56 missing with 241 others injured in the tremor.
1320 GMT: A recap of the key facts following Friday's massive earthquake -- the largest in Japan's history -- that struck off the north-east coast of Japan's main Honshu island at 14:46 local time (0546 GMT).
- the quake struck off the coast of the city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, Honshu island, about 250 miles (400km) north-east of Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles, the US Geological Survey said.
- the quake was followed by more than 40 aftershocks, one as strong as 7.1.
- a 10-metre (33 foot) tsunami triggered by the quake smashed into the Pacific coastline of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures on Honshu island.
Television pictures from Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, showed a tide of black water sending shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through streets and across open farmland, destroying everything in its path.
- At least 60 people have been killed and 56 missing in the quake and resulting tsunami, police told AFP in Tokyo.
The National Police Agency said 241 others were injured.
- Public broadcaster NHK reported at least 300 houses had been washed away in the city of Ofunato, Miyagi Prefecture, while a ship with 100 people aboard was missing.
- US and Japanese seismologists said the quake was the fifth strongest tremor worldwide since 1900 and the seventh strongest in history.
- Authorities have urged 2,000 residents living within a two-kilometre radius of a nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture in the north of Japan's main Honshu island.
Earlier the government declared an atomic power emergency but said no radiation leaks were detected among its reactors
- In the capital Tokyo, where millions evacuated strongly swaying buildings, multiple injuries were reported when the roof of a hall collapsed during a graduation ceremony, police said.
Plumes of smoke rose from at least 10 locations in the city, where four million homes suffered power outages. An oil refinery was ablaze near Tokyo.
- A tsunami warning has been extended across the Pacific to include the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hawaii, New Zealand, the Pacific coast of Russia and North and South America.
1258 GMT: Millions of people in greater Tokyo are stranded far away from home as evening falls after Japan's biggest earthquake on record shut down the capital's massive subway system, my colleagues report from Tokyo.
Countless workers, who had earlier fled violently swaying office blocks, found themselves stuck far from their families -- and unable to speak to them because the overloaded mobile phone system could not carry most calls, they tell me.
Sirens wailed through Tokyo, television helicopters buzzed overhead and people rushed to the city's ubiquitous 24-hour convenience stores, quickly emptying shelves of bento boxes, sandwiches and instant noodle cups.
1255 GMT: Here in London my colleagues on the business desk say New York crude oil has dived back under $100 per barrel as traders bet that a massive earthquake in Japan would slash the country's crude imports.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, fell to $99.01 -- the lowest level since February 25. It later stood at $99.69 a barrel, down $3.01 from Thursday's closing level.
In London midday deals, Brent North Sea crude for April was down a hefty $3.04 to $112.39.
1252 GMT: Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency says that a small tsunami set off by the massive quake in Japan has reached Indonesia's eastern coastline without causing any damage, my colleagues report from Jakarta.
1246 GMT: Japan has asked US forces stationed in the country for help in relief efforts after the 8,9-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated vast areas of the north-east coast on the main Honshu island, my colleagues in Tpkyo tell me, citing Kyodo News agency.
1240 GMT: More than 300 houses either collapsed or were washed away in the city of Ofunato, Miyagi Prefecture, following the quake and tsunami, Jiji Press reports in Tokyo, in an indication of the vast destruction along the Pacific coast.
1236 GMT: Authorities have urged 2,000 residents living within a two-kilometre radius of a nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture to evacuate after the biggest earthquake in Japan's history hit the region in the north of the main Honshu island, AFP reports from Tokyo.
1233 GMT: The European Union says it will "mobilise all appropriate assistance" for Japan after the country was hit by a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake, AFP reports from Brussels.
"We learned with great concern the news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that today struck Japan and the Pacific region," an EU statement issued as leaders of the 27-nation bloc went into an emergency Libya crisis summit.
1230 GMT: China says rescue workers are on standby to go to Japan as other concerned Asian nations pledged their support, AFP reports from Beijing.
Chen Jianmin, head of the China Earthquake Administration, said authorities had already put quake relief personnel, equipment and medicine in place, "ready to depart for Japan at any time", the state Xinhua news agency said.
1226 GMT: The massive earthquake in Japan has sent the stock value of re-insurers plummeting, less than a month after the sector was hit by the deadly tremblor that slammed Christchurch, New Zealand, AFP reports from Frankfurt.
Several re-insurance companies, which back up insurers and are among those hit hard by catastrophes, said it was too soon to estimate the damage but "it will be an expensive event," noted Christian Muschick, an analyst at the private German bank Silvia Quandt.
1218 GMT: Warning sirens are going off in Hawaii as the island scrambles to evacuate its coastlines after the massive earthquake off Japan triggered tsunami alerts across much of the Pacific Ocean, AFP reports from Honolulu.
"This looks like this will be a very serious event," said John Cummings of the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management.
The Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska placed Hawaii and parts of the US West Coast under a warning following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, urging residents to stay tuned for more information on rising waves.
The warnings also affected coastal areas through Central and South America as well as the western rim of the Pacific.
Hawaii's sirens first sounded at 9:59 pm (0759 GMT Friday) and went off every hour on the hour after that. The first waves were expected to hit the Pacific island state around 2:55 am (1255 GMT) and the US West Coast three hours later.
1213 GMT: Ecuador has ordered preventive coastal evacuations as Pacific Latin American nations from Mexico to Chile issued tsunami warnings following the powerful earthquake off Japan, AFP reports from Chile's capital Santiago.
1208 GMT: More detail on the death toll from the earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck over six hours ago off the north-east coast of Japan:
At least 40 people were killed and 39 missing in the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast, AFP in Tokyo reports citing police.
The National Police Agency said at least 40 were dead and 39 missing with 244 others injured.
The public broadcaster NHK put the death toll at 44.
"The damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data," an official at the agency said.
Police in Iwate prefecture, near the epicentre, confirmed the deaths of 17 people there.
1202 GMT: The death toll from Friday's massive earthquake off the north-east coast of Japan has risen to at least 40, with 39 missing, AFP reports from Tokyo.
1158 GMT: Japan's historic fishing port of Hakodate is a ghost town, AFP reports, after a two-metre (6.6-foot) tsunami ripped through the centre and authorities told 30,000 people to evacuate.
Wooden boxes and fish containers were scattered through the town, while thousands of frightened residents fled coastal areas, fearful that another wall of water could hit the harbour in the south of Japan's northern Hokkaido island.
Cars jammed roads as train and cablecar services were suspended. Local residents prepared to spend a restless night at shelters as aftershocks continued to shake houses and tall buildings.
1153 GMT: Japan's public broadcaster NHK is reporting Miyagi Prefecture police as saying that a ship with 100 people aboard was carried away by the post-quake tsunami, and its fate is unknown.
1146 GMT: Japan says it is operating on an atomic power emergency footing but says no radiation leaks have been detected among its reactors after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck, triggering a huge tsunami.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared the emergency to enable authorities to implement emergency measures.
Residents living near plants were not required to take special action, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.
"We have declared a nuclear emergency state to take every possible precaution," Edano said. "Let me repeat that there is no radiation leak, nor will there be a leak."
"We ask residents in the areas near power plants to act calmly."
A fire broke out in the turbine building of Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, but operator Tohoku Electric Power said there were no indications of a radioactive leak, Kyodo News reported.
1140 GMT: Sky News in the UK are reporting that there have been at least 19 aftershocks since the main 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT) off the north-east coast of Japan.
1130 GMT: The city of Sendai, the capital of Honshu island's Miyagi Prefecture that has bornb the brunt of the damage from the tsunami, is one of Japan's 19 designated cities and has a population of over a million people.
Public broadcaster NHK is showing pictures of people taking refuge on the roof of the terminal at the city's main airport as cars are seen floating in the surrounding tsunami waters.
1120 GMT: More reports from AFP in the Taiwanese capital Taipei:
Taiwanese authorities say that minor tsunamis set off by a massive quake in Japan reached the island's coastline without causing any damage.
Waves around 10 centimetres (four inches) high hit Taiwan's east and northeast coasts in the evening, the central weather bureau said.
The bureau later lifted the tsunami warning, saying it did not expect more and bigger waves.
Taiwan's central emergency response centre told AFP that the waves had caused no damage.
1110 GMT: The earthquake is 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 reports from Tokyo.
1051 GMT: The United Nations says it is ready to send search and rescue teams to quake-hit Japan if the Asian state needs help, AFP reports from Geneva.
"Thirty-five international search and rescue teams are on alert, they are monitoring the situation and ready to help should Japan request aid," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"The UN stands ready to help," she added.
1050 GMT: The death toll from the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that has hit off northeast Japan -- unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast -- has reached 32, including three in Tokyo, AFP reports from the Japanese capital citing press reports.
The figure could not be immediately confirmed by the Metropolitan Police Agency or the Tokyo Fire Department.
Among the dead are a 67-year-old man crushed by a wall and an elderly woman killed by a fallen roof, both in the wider Tokyo area, press reports said.
Three were crushed to death when their houses collapsed in Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.
Police in Iwate prefecture, near the epicentre, confirmed the deaths of 10 people there.
The National Police Agency, charged with compiling nationwide data on natural disasters, could not immediately confirm the figures.
"The damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data," an official at the agency said.
1040 GMT: Marshall Islands disaster management officials have downgraded an earlier tsunami alert to a "tsunami watch" after the massive quake off northeast Japan, AFP reports from the capital Majuro.
"There is no danger as far as we are concerned," said government radio station manager Antari Elbon after receiving notification from officials that the danger of a tsunami had passed.
1038 GMT: New Zealand civil defence officials have issued a tsunami warning for the country and warned people to stay clear of beaches following a massive earthquake in Japan, AFP reports from the capital Wellington.
1030 GMT: Four nuclear power plants closest to a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan have been safely shut down, the UN atomic watchdog says.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's Incident and Emergency Centre "received information from the International Seismic Safety Centre (ISSC) at around 0815 CET (0715 GMT) this morning about the earthquake of magnitude 8.9 near the east coast of Honshu, Japan," the watchdog said in a statement.
1025 GMT: A schoolboy was swept away in Miyagi prefecture -- the region on the northeast coast of Japan's main Honshu island worst hit by the tsunami -- by surging waters and there were fears the toll would keep climbing from the more than two dozen reported dead so far, AFP reports from Tokyo.
The masses of water overwhelmed coastal defences and swallowed up many square kilometres (square miles) of land in the region in scenes reminiscent of the devastation triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Ken Hoshi, a local government official in Ishinomaki, a Pacific port city in Miyagi prefecture.
"The water came as far as to the train station," hundreds of metres (yards) away from the coast, the 41-year-old official said as his city turned into a flood zone.
1020 GMT: A fire has broke out in the turbine building of Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture -- on Japan's main Honshu island -- on Friday, AFP in Tokyo cites Kyodo News as reporting, following the huge 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT).
1010 GMT: Taiwan's central weather bureau says minor tsunamis set off by a massive quake in Japan reached Taiwan's coastline without causing any damage, AFP reports from Taipei.
0958 GMT: Belly-up ships, twisted cars and debris from shattered buildings crashed through the streets of port towns on the east coast of Japan's Honshu island on Friday, swept by a tsunami triggered by a huge earthquake which struck off the north-east coast of Japan at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT).
A muddy river filled with rubble -- some of it on fire and belching smoke -- raced across rice fields and through towns near Sendai in Miyagi prefecture, aerial television footage from one of the worst-hit areas showed.
A schoolboy was swept away there by the deadly waters and there were grave fears the toll would keep climbing sharply from the more than two dozen reported dead as a cold night settled over Japan.
The huge wall of sea water unleashed by Japan's worst quake on record hit the Pacific coast of Honshu island, sweeping away whole houses and turning harbour areas into scenes of utter devastation.
0950 GMT: The death toll from the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit off northeast Japan on Friday, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast, has reached 26, AFP reports from Tokyo citing press reports.
Among the dead are a 67-year-old man crushed by a wall and an elderly woman killed by a fallen roof, both in the wider Tokyo area, press reports said.
0930 GMT: This is Nick Morrison in London taking over the live report from my colleagues in Hong Kong on the huge 8.9-magnitude earthquake that quake that struck off the northeast coast of Japan's main Honshu island at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT) Friday.
Stay with us for all the latest updates from our correspondents in Tokyo and in neighbouring countries on the aftermath of the quake as tsunami alerts are triggered across the region.
0906 GMT: Japan's National Police Agency, charged with compiling nationwide data on natural disasters, says it cannot confirm the death toll, with one official saying the "damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data."
0902 GMT: Japanese media reports the death toll has risen to 19. Russian officials say the first tsunami waves have reached reached the Kuril Islands chain, with waves at Shikotan Island reaching one metre (3.3 feet) and waves at Kunashir Island 95 centimeters.
0850 GMT: The Philippine government has strongly urged residents of its Pacific coast to "go farther inland" amid a tsunami threat following a huge earthquake off Japan, AFP repots from Manila.
0845 GMT: Japan warns of imminent strong quake on northeastern Honshu island, AFP reports from Tokyo.
0840 GMT: Japanese press reports say at least eight people have been killed including a 67-year-old man crushed by a wall and an elderly woman killed by a fallen roof, both in the wider Tokyo area. Three were crushed to death when their houses collapsed in Ibaraki prefecture northeast of Tokyo.
0835 GMT: Hawaii is scrambling to evacuate locals and tourists from the coastline after the massive earthquake off Japan triggered a tsunami alert, officials on the Pacific island state said.
0828 GMT: Hawaii orders evacuations after tsunami alert, AFP reports from Honolulu.
0822 GMT: Strong aftershock felt in Tokyo, AFP reports from the Japanese capital.
0821 GMT: Beijing residents report feeling the Japan quake, AFP reports from China's capital.
Workers in some office towers in the Chinese capital, more than 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) from the quake epicentre, reported via chat sites that they had clearly felt the tremor.
However, no injuries or damage were immediately reported in China.
0817 GMT: Japanese PM says no nuclear plant radiation has been detected, AFP reports..
0809 GMT: Japanese government says 'tremendous damage' from quake, AFP reports from Tokyo.
0805 GMT: Hawaii issues tsunami warning, braces for waves, AFP reports from Honolulu.
0804 GMT: The Mariana Islands are on tsunami alert and evacuating citizens after a huge earthquake off Japan, the Pacific state's Emergency Management Office (EMO) said, according to AFP reports from the island's main city Saipan.
0800 GMT: Here is a recap of the main events surrounding the huge earthquake that has struck off Japan's northeast coast:
- A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake hits Japan at 14:46 pm (0546 GMT), unleashing a monster 10-metre high tsunami that sent ships crashing into the shore and carried cars through the streets of coastal towns.
- Many injuries were reported from Pacific coastal areas of the main Honshu island and the capital Tokyo, police said, while TV footage showed widespread flooding in the area. One person was confirmed dead.
- Helicopter footage showed massive inundation in northern coastal towns, where floods of black water sent shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through towns.
- Mud waves were shown racing upstream along the Natori river in Sendai city, blanketing farm fields.
- In the capital, where millions evacuated strongly swaying buildings, multiple injuries were reported when the roof of a hall collapsed during a graduation ceremony, police said.
- Plumes of smoke rose from at least 10 locations in city, where four million homes suffered power outages. Port areas were flooded, including the carpark of Tokyo Disneyland.
- The US tsunami monitoring center widens a warning to virtually the entire Pacific coast, including Australia and South America, after a massive earthquake in Japan.
Japan quake: live report
AFP NewsBy Nick Morrison | AFP News – Sat, Mar 12, 2011 1:07 AM PHT
1700 GMT: I'm now handing over to my colleagues in Washington -- stay with us for all the latest news following the huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Japan at 14:46 local time (0546 GMT) Friday.
Here's a recap of the key points following the 8.9-magnitude quake -- the strongest ever to hit Japan -- which struck off the northeastern coast of the main island of Honshu, triggering a huge tsunami along Japan's Pacific coast.
-- The 10-metre (33-foot) wave of black water generated by the quake -- the seventh biggest ever recorded -- pulverised the northeastern city of Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, where police reportedly said 200-300 bodies had been found on the coast.
-- More than 90 people have been confirmed killed in addition to the bodies found on the Sendai coast, public broadcaster NHK reported.
-- The wave set off tsunami alerts across the Pacific, including in the US state of Hawaii and in many Latin American nations from Mexico to Chile, where seaside populations were urged to take precautions.
-- A Japanese ship with 100 people aboard was reportedly carried away while more than 300 houses were destroyed in the remote city of Ofunato in Miyagi Prefecture.
-- The government said the tsunami and quake, which was felt in Beijing some 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) away, had caused "tremendous damage", while aerial footage showed massive flooding in northern towns.
-- The quake, which struck about 250 miles (400km) north-east of Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles 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, millions who had earlier fled swaying buildings were stranded far away from home in the evening after the earthquake shut down the capital's vast subway system. The mobile phone network was strained to breaking point.
-- There was also major disruption to air travel and bullet train services. A passenger train with an unknown number of people aboard was unaccounted for on a line outside Sendai, Kyodo News agency reported.
1652 GMT: Tsunami waves triggered by Japan's devastating earthquake have begun arriving on the US West Coast, some 12 hours after the tremor struck, my colleagues in Portland, Oregon, are reporting, citing officials and witnesses.
"The tsunami has arrived now and the ocean is surging as though it were between high tide and low tide every 30 minutes instead of the usual six hours," said Mike Murphy, emergencies chief in Port Orford, Oregon.
"It's definitely the tsunami waves doing it," he told AFP, adding bigger waves were expected in the coming hours.
1645 GMT: My colleagues from Tokyo are reporting apocalyptic scenes from across the country, with fires breaking out from severed gas mains and an oil refinery ablaze in Chiba prefecture outside Tokyo belching acrid smoke into the skies.
As aftershocks continue to rock Japan, the army has readied to deploy thousands of troops and hundreds of ships and planes to help those in need, with the desperate rescue effort became more complex as night fell.
1629 GMT: US markets sank on Friday, my colleagues in New York report, as traders grappled with the economic impact of the massive earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan, the world's third largest economy.
Stocks fell and oil and commodity prices tumbled as traders struggled to measure the effects of a disaster in one of the world's most important and inter-connected markets.
"Anyone who tells you that they have a handle on the economic consequences of this event is wrong," said Carl Weinberg, a top economist with High Frequency Economics, reflecting the market's nervousness.
"There is no way to assess even the direct damage to Japan's economy or to the global economy. This is a sad day for Japan, and economic aftershocks could affect the whole world's economy."
1624 GMT: A US Navy ship docked south of Los Angeles has been ordered out into open water as a precautionary measure due to a tsunami racing across the Pacific Ocean, a spokesman has told my colleagues in the Los Angeles bureau.
The USS Dubuque was told to steam out of Seal Beach to safer waters in the Pacific ahead of the expected arrival of waves from the tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake near Japan, said Seal Beach police spokesman Steve Bowles.
There was no immediate announcement about movement of US Navy vessels docked further south down the California coast in San Diego, home to the Pacific Fleet.
1618 GMT: At least 337 people were killed in Friday's massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off Japan, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast, my colleagues in Tokyo report citing police and press reports.
The National Police Agency said 137 people had been confirmed dead and 531 missing, with 627 others injured in the tremor.
"The death toll has yet to include the 200-300 dead bodies which were (reportedly) found on the beach of Sendai," a spokesman for the agency said.
1605 GMT: Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake off Japan's coast is also the seventh largest in history and biggest ever to hit Japan, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
1556 GMT: A reminder that Friday's quake off the Japanese coast is the largest earthquake to strike since more than 220,000 people were killed when a magnitude 9.1 hit off Indonesia in 2004, unleashing a massive tsunami that devastated coastlines in countries around the Indian Ocean as far away as Africa.
1550 GMT: A dam in Japan's northeast Fukushima Prefecture has broken and homes have been washed away, Kyodo news agency is reporting, following the biggest earthquake in the nation's history which struck off the coast at 14:46 local time (0546 GMT) on Friday.
1545 GMT: The United Nations says search and rescue teams from more than 45 countries are ready to head to quake and tsunami hit Japan if the Asian state needs help.
"More than 68 teams from more than 45 countries are on standby," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told AFP in Geneva.
The search and rescue teams mobilised under a UN disaster response network are monitoring the situation and ready to help should Japan request aid, she explained.
1535 GMT: Latin American nations from Mexico to Chile are warning seaside populations to take precautions -- and in some cases to evacuate their homes -- as they brace for a tsunami following Japan's powerful earthquake, my colleagues in Mexico City report.
Mexico, which was expecting the tsunami to work its way down its coast between 1545 GMT to 2045 GMT, warned of waves of about two metres (6.5 feet) and issued a bulletin for its Pacific coastline.
Tourists in the seaside resorts of Los Cabos and Acapulco were told to remain in their hotels far from the beaches.
Just to the south, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom ordered classes suspended in schools in three coastal provinces in his country and urged residents there to "get to high ground." Boats should not head out of harbor, he said.
El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica all issued tsunami alerts, with El Salvador saying it expected to see the effects around 2200 GMT. Nicaragua said that some 100,000 people along their coastline were potentially at risk, and expected the tsunami wave to arrive around 2230 GMT. Panama however issued no alert.
In nearby Colombia authorities were sanguine, saying they were "monitoring" waves they expected to be just 12 to 70 centimeters (20 to 28 inches) high when they arrived around 7:00 pm (0000 GMT Saturday).
Nevertheless, a representative of the Disaster Prevention Unit, Luz Amanda Pulido, told AFP people were barred from swimming or fishing on the coast.
But in Ecuador, President Rafael Correa ordered preventive coastal evacuations due to the "imminent threat" of a tsunami. He also issued a 60-day "state of exception" and ordered residents to evacuate the Galapagos Islands.
Domestic flights to the Galapagos and the coastal cities of Salinas, Esmeraldas, San Vicente and Manta were canceled for the day.
Peru's tsunami alert said the first wave should reach its coast between 6:00 and 8:00 pm local time (0000 to 0200 GMT Saturday). Its bulletin was one level below a tsunami "alarm."
In Chile -- still jittery after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck the country in late February 2010 -- President Sebastian Pinera issued a "preventive alert," but told citizens to remain calm and continue normal life.
"If there are consequences, they should be felt in the final hours of the day. The population should remain informed," Pinera said.
1528 GMT: Japan's defence ministry is ready to deploy 300 military planes and 40 vessels for post-quake and tsunami relief, Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa says, according to Kyodo News agency.
1525 GMT: Millions of Japanese learnt about Friday's massive earthquake about one minute before they could feel its violent shockwaves, thanks to an early-warning system renowned to be the world's best, my colleagues in Tokyo report.
The sophisticated system is connected to network of about 1,000 seismometers around the country which detect and analyse primary waves of quakes and issue warnings if the tremors are predicted to be powerful.
Primary waves travel faster than secondary waves, which are much more destructive -- meaning that alarms about quakes can arrive moments before the earth starts to shake, just enough time to take cover.
"The system functioned well because warnings were seen on television across the country," Hirohito Naito, a seismic specialist at the Japan Meteorological Agency, told AFP.
1515 GMT: My colleague Kent Nishimura reporting from Honolulu says the largest wave to crash ashore in Hawaii -- some 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers) from the epicenter of the quake -- was measured as a six-foot (1.8-meter) surge and hit Kahului, Maui, officials said.
Geophysicist Gerard Fryer with the Pacific center said it was a "significant tsunami," but added Hawaii appeared to have been spared any major damage.
1503 GMT: US President Barack Obama has led the United States in offering "condolences" to the people of Japan, saying his country stood ready to help them after a massive earthquake and tsunami.
"(First Lady) Michelle 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.
"The United States stands ready to help the Japanese people in this time of great trial. The friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakable."
Vice President Joe Biden also offered the "thoughts and prayers of the American people" during an official visit to Moldova.
"We the United States stand ready to do anything we can to help our Japanese friends as they deal with the aftermath of this tragedy," Biden said.
1454 GMT: The US Navy says there has been no "significant damage" to its fleet or facilities in Japan after the massive earthquake off the coast triggered a tsunami.
"Currently, no reports of significant damage to installations and no damage to US Navy ships in Japan," it said in an official message on the micro-blogging website Twitter.
The US Pacific Fleet said there was no damage on the Pacific island of Guam, where it maintains a base, adding that it was "still awaiting the all clear."
The Pacific Fleet command said it would not be evacuating any personnel or sailing ships out of Pearl Harbor, on the southeastern side of Hawaii's Oahu Island, where the tsunami was expected to strike.
"Projected wave assessments inside harbor indicate no need to sortie ships. Taking all measures to ensure ships secure in port," it said on Twitter.
The Pacific Missile Range Facility on the nearby island of Kauai, however, ordered an "evacuation advisory," saying: "Munitions storage facility is the safe haven for personnel."
1444 GMT: At least 288 people have been killed in the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck off Japan's east coast on Friday, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific shoreline, according to an AFP tally citing police and press reports in Japan.
The National Police Agency said 88 people had been confirmed dead and 349 missing, with 330 others injured in the tremor, my colleagues in Tokyo are reporting.
"The death toll doesn't include the 200-300 dead bodies which were (reportedly) found on the beach of Sendai," a spokesman for the agency said.
Around 200 to 300 bodies were found in a part of Japan's quake and tsunami hit Pacific coast town of Sendai, according to media reports.
Kyodo News and Jiji Press agency said the bodies were reported found in Sendai's Wakabayashi ward following the powerful seabed earthquake that sent a massive tsunami slamming into the coast.
Of the dead, 34 were found in Iwate prefecture, near the epicentre, the agency said. Three were killed in Tokyo.
1420 GMT: An update on the Jiji Press report I posted at 1240 GMT emerging from the small coastal town of Ofunato, north of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, where at least 300 houses have been destroyed and scores are reported missing.
The news agency are now saying police have received an unconfirmed report that 48 people are missing in the fishing town, 23 of whom were believed to be junior-high school students.
The town of 40,000 people gained tragic world fame in 1960 when it was hit by a huge tsunami triggered by a quake across the Pacific in Chile -- the latest of a string catastrophic tidal waves that have hit over the centuries.
1415 GMT: Reports of tsunami warnings around the Indian and Pacific Ocean region keep coming in -- my fellow reporters in Nairobi are saying Kenya's meteorological department has issued a tsunami alert to residents of the country's coastal region but said waves reaching the Indian Ocean coast would be weak.
The department said waves triggered by the powerful earthquake in Japan would reach the Kenyan coast early Saturday.
1406 GMT: More on the major explosion at a petrochemical plant complex in the northeastern Japanese city of Sendai.
TV images in Japan are showing huge orange balls of flame rolling up into the night sky as fires raged around the complex, my colleagues in Tokyo are reporting.
A huge fire also engulfed a Cosmo oil refinery in Iichihara near the Japanese capital as the quake brought huge disruption to Japan's key industries.
Sony Corp. has suspended production at its six plants in Miyagi Prefecture -- which has born the brunt of the magnitude 8.9-magnitude offshore quake and ensuing tsunami -- and its neighboring Fukushima Prefecture, it said, adding it has evacuated all employees there.
Car giant Nissan said it had suspended operations at four plants, with small fires breaking out at a facility in Fukushima and Kawachi County that had since been extinguished. It said two employees had suffered injuries.
1355 GMT: More from my fellow reporters in Honolulu where the first waves from the tsunami have reached Hawaii's shores, according to TV pictures broadcast there.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has reported seeing wave changes at Waianae Harbor at around 3:24 a.m (1324 GMT), shortly before the relatively small waves were seen at Waikiki, my colleagues tell me.
1350 GMT: There has been a major explosion at a petrochemical complex in the city of Sendai in northern Honshu island, following the tsunami triggered by a 8.9-magnitude quake off the coast, my colleagues in Tokyo are telling me, citing local media reports.
1344 GMT: Police in Japan's tsunami-hit city of Sendai say 200-300 bodies have been found on the coast, Japan's Jiji Press agency is reporting.
1340 GMT: The first waves to hit Hawaii from the tsunami triggered by the massive earthquake off Japan have washed up onshore at Waikiki, according to live TV images, my fellow reporters in Honolulu tell me.
1338 GMT: A passenger train with an unknown number of people aboard was unaccounted for in a tsunami-hit part of coastal Japan, my colleagues in Tokyo tell me Kyodo News is reporting, citing police.
The East Japan Railway Co. train was running near Nobiru Station on the Senseki Line connecting Sendai to Ishinomaki when a massive quake hit, triggering a 10-metre (33-foot) tsunami, the report said.
1330 GMT: My colleagues in Tokyo are now reporting that more than 90 people have been killed in the earthquake and ensuing tsunami, citing public broadcaster NHK.
The National Police Agency said at least 60 people had been killed and 56 missing with 241 others injured in the tremor.
1320 GMT: A recap of the key facts following Friday's massive earthquake -- the largest in Japan's history -- that struck off the north-east coast of Japan's main Honshu island at 14:46 local time (0546 GMT).
- the quake struck off the coast of the city of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, Honshu island, about 250 miles (400km) north-east of Tokyo at a depth of 20 miles, the US Geological Survey said.
- the quake was followed by more than 40 aftershocks, one as strong as 7.1.
- a 10-metre (33 foot) tsunami triggered by the quake smashed into the Pacific coastline of Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures on Honshu island.
Television pictures from Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture, showed a tide of black water sending shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through streets and across open farmland, destroying everything in its path.
- At least 60 people have been killed and 56 missing in the quake and resulting tsunami, police told AFP in Tokyo.
The National Police Agency said 241 others were injured.
- Public broadcaster NHK reported at least 300 houses had been washed away in the city of Ofunato, Miyagi Prefecture, while a ship with 100 people aboard was missing.
- US and Japanese seismologists said the quake was the fifth strongest tremor worldwide since 1900 and the seventh strongest in history.
- Authorities have urged 2,000 residents living within a two-kilometre radius of a nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture in the north of Japan's main Honshu island.
Earlier the government declared an atomic power emergency but said no radiation leaks were detected among its reactors
- In the capital Tokyo, where millions evacuated strongly swaying buildings, multiple injuries were reported when the roof of a hall collapsed during a graduation ceremony, police said.
Plumes of smoke rose from at least 10 locations in the city, where four million homes suffered power outages. An oil refinery was ablaze near Tokyo.
- A tsunami warning has been extended across the Pacific to include the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hawaii, New Zealand, the Pacific coast of Russia and North and South America.
1258 GMT: Millions of people in greater Tokyo are stranded far away from home as evening falls after Japan's biggest earthquake on record shut down the capital's massive subway system, my colleagues report from Tokyo.
Countless workers, who had earlier fled violently swaying office blocks, found themselves stuck far from their families -- and unable to speak to them because the overloaded mobile phone system could not carry most calls, they tell me.
Sirens wailed through Tokyo, television helicopters buzzed overhead and people rushed to the city's ubiquitous 24-hour convenience stores, quickly emptying shelves of bento boxes, sandwiches and instant noodle cups.
1255 GMT: Here in London my colleagues on the business desk say New York crude oil has dived back under $100 per barrel as traders bet that a massive earthquake in Japan would slash the country's crude imports.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April delivery, fell to $99.01 -- the lowest level since February 25. It later stood at $99.69 a barrel, down $3.01 from Thursday's closing level.
In London midday deals, Brent North Sea crude for April was down a hefty $3.04 to $112.39.
1252 GMT: Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency says that a small tsunami set off by the massive quake in Japan has reached Indonesia's eastern coastline without causing any damage, my colleagues report from Jakarta.
1246 GMT: Japan has asked US forces stationed in the country for help in relief efforts after the 8,9-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated vast areas of the north-east coast on the main Honshu island, my colleagues in Tpkyo tell me, citing Kyodo News agency.
1240 GMT: More than 300 houses either collapsed or were washed away in the city of Ofunato, Miyagi Prefecture, following the quake and tsunami, Jiji Press reports in Tokyo, in an indication of the vast destruction along the Pacific coast.
1236 GMT: Authorities have urged 2,000 residents living within a two-kilometre radius of a nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture to evacuate after the biggest earthquake in Japan's history hit the region in the north of the main Honshu island, AFP reports from Tokyo.
1233 GMT: The European Union says it will "mobilise all appropriate assistance" for Japan after the country was hit by a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake, AFP reports from Brussels.
"We learned with great concern the news of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that today struck Japan and the Pacific region," an EU statement issued as leaders of the 27-nation bloc went into an emergency Libya crisis summit.
1230 GMT: China says rescue workers are on standby to go to Japan as other concerned Asian nations pledged their support, AFP reports from Beijing.
Chen Jianmin, head of the China Earthquake Administration, said authorities had already put quake relief personnel, equipment and medicine in place, "ready to depart for Japan at any time", the state Xinhua news agency said.
1226 GMT: The massive earthquake in Japan has sent the stock value of re-insurers plummeting, less than a month after the sector was hit by the deadly tremblor that slammed Christchurch, New Zealand, AFP reports from Frankfurt.
Several re-insurance companies, which back up insurers and are among those hit hard by catastrophes, said it was too soon to estimate the damage but "it will be an expensive event," noted Christian Muschick, an analyst at the private German bank Silvia Quandt.
1218 GMT: Warning sirens are going off in Hawaii as the island scrambles to evacuate its coastlines after the massive earthquake off Japan triggered tsunami alerts across much of the Pacific Ocean, AFP reports from Honolulu.
"This looks like this will be a very serious event," said John Cummings of the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management.
The Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska placed Hawaii and parts of the US West Coast under a warning following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake, urging residents to stay tuned for more information on rising waves.
The warnings also affected coastal areas through Central and South America as well as the western rim of the Pacific.
Hawaii's sirens first sounded at 9:59 pm (0759 GMT Friday) and went off every hour on the hour after that. The first waves were expected to hit the Pacific island state around 2:55 am (1255 GMT) and the US West Coast three hours later.
1213 GMT: Ecuador has ordered preventive coastal evacuations as Pacific Latin American nations from Mexico to Chile issued tsunami warnings following the powerful earthquake off Japan, AFP reports from Chile's capital Santiago.
1208 GMT: More detail on the death toll from the earthquake and resulting tsunami that struck over six hours ago off the north-east coast of Japan:
At least 40 people were killed and 39 missing in the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast, AFP in Tokyo reports citing police.
The National Police Agency said at least 40 were dead and 39 missing with 244 others injured.
The public broadcaster NHK put the death toll at 44.
"The damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data," an official at the agency said.
Police in Iwate prefecture, near the epicentre, confirmed the deaths of 17 people there.
1202 GMT: The death toll from Friday's massive earthquake off the north-east coast of Japan has risen to at least 40, with 39 missing, AFP reports from Tokyo.
1158 GMT: Japan's historic fishing port of Hakodate is a ghost town, AFP reports, after a two-metre (6.6-foot) tsunami ripped through the centre and authorities told 30,000 people to evacuate.
Wooden boxes and fish containers were scattered through the town, while thousands of frightened residents fled coastal areas, fearful that another wall of water could hit the harbour in the south of Japan's northern Hokkaido island.
Cars jammed roads as train and cablecar services were suspended. Local residents prepared to spend a restless night at shelters as aftershocks continued to shake houses and tall buildings.
1153 GMT: Japan's public broadcaster NHK is reporting Miyagi Prefecture police as saying that a ship with 100 people aboard was carried away by the post-quake tsunami, and its fate is unknown.
1146 GMT: Japan says it is operating on an atomic power emergency footing but says no radiation leaks have been detected among its reactors after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck, triggering a huge tsunami.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared the emergency to enable authorities to implement emergency measures.
Residents living near plants were not required to take special action, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.
"We have declared a nuclear emergency state to take every possible precaution," Edano said. "Let me repeat that there is no radiation leak, nor will there be a leak."
"We ask residents in the areas near power plants to act calmly."
A fire broke out in the turbine building of Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture, but operator Tohoku Electric Power said there were no indications of a radioactive leak, Kyodo News reported.
1140 GMT: Sky News in the UK are reporting that there have been at least 19 aftershocks since the main 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT) off the north-east coast of Japan.
1130 GMT: The city of Sendai, the capital of Honshu island's Miyagi Prefecture that has bornb the brunt of the damage from the tsunami, is one of Japan's 19 designated cities and has a population of over a million people.
Public broadcaster NHK is showing pictures of people taking refuge on the roof of the terminal at the city's main airport as cars are seen floating in the surrounding tsunami waters.
1120 GMT: More reports from AFP in the Taiwanese capital Taipei:
Taiwanese authorities say that minor tsunamis set off by a massive quake in Japan reached the island's coastline without causing any damage.
Waves around 10 centimetres (four inches) high hit Taiwan's east and northeast coasts in the evening, the central weather bureau said.
The bureau later lifted the tsunami warning, saying it did not expect more and bigger waves.
Taiwan's central emergency response centre told AFP that the waves had caused no damage.
1110 GMT: The earthquake is 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 reports from Tokyo.
1051 GMT: The United Nations says it is ready to send search and rescue teams to quake-hit Japan if the Asian state needs help, AFP reports from Geneva.
"Thirty-five international search and rescue teams are on alert, they are monitoring the situation and ready to help should Japan request aid," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"The UN stands ready to help," she added.
1050 GMT: The death toll from the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that has hit off northeast Japan -- unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast -- has reached 32, including three in Tokyo, AFP reports from the Japanese capital citing press reports.
The figure could not be immediately confirmed by the Metropolitan Police Agency or the Tokyo Fire Department.
Among the dead are a 67-year-old man crushed by a wall and an elderly woman killed by a fallen roof, both in the wider Tokyo area, press reports said.
Three were crushed to death when their houses collapsed in Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo.
Police in Iwate prefecture, near the epicentre, confirmed the deaths of 10 people there.
The National Police Agency, charged with compiling nationwide data on natural disasters, could not immediately confirm the figures.
"The damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data," an official at the agency said.
1040 GMT: Marshall Islands disaster management officials have downgraded an earlier tsunami alert to a "tsunami watch" after the massive quake off northeast Japan, AFP reports from the capital Majuro.
"There is no danger as far as we are concerned," said government radio station manager Antari Elbon after receiving notification from officials that the danger of a tsunami had passed.
1038 GMT: New Zealand civil defence officials have issued a tsunami warning for the country and warned people to stay clear of beaches following a massive earthquake in Japan, AFP reports from the capital Wellington.
1030 GMT: Four nuclear power plants closest to a massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan have been safely shut down, the UN atomic watchdog says.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's Incident and Emergency Centre "received information from the International Seismic Safety Centre (ISSC) at around 0815 CET (0715 GMT) this morning about the earthquake of magnitude 8.9 near the east coast of Honshu, Japan," the watchdog said in a statement.
1025 GMT: A schoolboy was swept away in Miyagi prefecture -- the region on the northeast coast of Japan's main Honshu island worst hit by the tsunami -- by surging waters and there were fears the toll would keep climbing from the more than two dozen reported dead so far, AFP reports from Tokyo.
The masses of water overwhelmed coastal defences and swallowed up many square kilometres (square miles) of land in the region in scenes reminiscent of the devastation triggered by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Ken Hoshi, a local government official in Ishinomaki, a Pacific port city in Miyagi prefecture.
"The water came as far as to the train station," hundreds of metres (yards) away from the coast, the 41-year-old official said as his city turned into a flood zone.
1020 GMT: A fire has broke out in the turbine building of Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture -- on Japan's main Honshu island -- on Friday, AFP in Tokyo cites Kyodo News as reporting, following the huge 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT).
1010 GMT: Taiwan's central weather bureau says minor tsunamis set off by a massive quake in Japan reached Taiwan's coastline without causing any damage, AFP reports from Taipei.
0958 GMT: Belly-up ships, twisted cars and debris from shattered buildings crashed through the streets of port towns on the east coast of Japan's Honshu island on Friday, swept by a tsunami triggered by a huge earthquake which struck off the north-east coast of Japan at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT).
A muddy river filled with rubble -- some of it on fire and belching smoke -- raced across rice fields and through towns near Sendai in Miyagi prefecture, aerial television footage from one of the worst-hit areas showed.
A schoolboy was swept away there by the deadly waters and there were grave fears the toll would keep climbing sharply from the more than two dozen reported dead as a cold night settled over Japan.
The huge wall of sea water unleashed by Japan's worst quake on record hit the Pacific coast of Honshu island, sweeping away whole houses and turning harbour areas into scenes of utter devastation.
0950 GMT: The death toll from the massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit off northeast Japan on Friday, unleashing huge tsunamis along its Pacific coast, has reached 26, AFP reports from Tokyo citing press reports.
Among the dead are a 67-year-old man crushed by a wall and an elderly woman killed by a fallen roof, both in the wider Tokyo area, press reports said.
0930 GMT: This is Nick Morrison in London taking over the live report from my colleagues in Hong Kong on the huge 8.9-magnitude earthquake that quake that struck off the northeast coast of Japan's main Honshu island at 14:46 pm local time (0546 GMT) Friday.
Stay with us for all the latest updates from our correspondents in Tokyo and in neighbouring countries on the aftermath of the quake as tsunami alerts are triggered across the region.
0906 GMT: Japan's National Police Agency, charged with compiling nationwide data on natural disasters, says it cannot confirm the death toll, with one official saying the "damage is so enormous that it will take us much time to gather data."
0902 GMT: Japanese media reports the death toll has risen to 19. Russian officials say the first tsunami waves have reached reached the Kuril Islands chain, with waves at Shikotan Island reaching one metre (3.3 feet) and waves at Kunashir Island 95 centimeters.
0850 GMT: The Philippine government has strongly urged residents of its Pacific coast to "go farther inland" amid a tsunami threat following a huge earthquake off Japan, AFP repots from Manila.
0845 GMT: Japan warns of imminent strong quake on northeastern Honshu island, AFP reports from Tokyo.
0840 GMT: Japanese press reports say at least eight people have been killed including a 67-year-old man crushed by a wall and an elderly woman killed by a fallen roof, both in the wider Tokyo area. Three were crushed to death when their houses collapsed in Ibaraki prefecture northeast of Tokyo.
0835 GMT: Hawaii is scrambling to evacuate locals and tourists from the coastline after the massive earthquake off Japan triggered a tsunami alert, officials on the Pacific island state said.
0828 GMT: Hawaii orders evacuations after tsunami alert, AFP reports from Honolulu.
0822 GMT: Strong aftershock felt in Tokyo, AFP reports from the Japanese capital.
0821 GMT: Beijing residents report feeling the Japan quake, AFP reports from China's capital.
Workers in some office towers in the Chinese capital, more than 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) from the quake epicentre, reported via chat sites that they had clearly felt the tremor.
However, no injuries or damage were immediately reported in China.
0817 GMT: Japanese PM says no nuclear plant radiation has been detected, AFP reports..
0809 GMT: Japanese government says 'tremendous damage' from quake, AFP reports from Tokyo.
0805 GMT: Hawaii issues tsunami warning, braces for waves, AFP reports from Honolulu.
0804 GMT: The Mariana Islands are on tsunami alert and evacuating citizens after a huge earthquake off Japan, the Pacific state's Emergency Management Office (EMO) said, according to AFP reports from the island's main city Saipan.
0800 GMT: Here is a recap of the main events surrounding the huge earthquake that has struck off Japan's northeast coast:
- A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake hits Japan at 14:46 pm (0546 GMT), unleashing a monster 10-metre high tsunami that sent ships crashing into the shore and carried cars through the streets of coastal towns.
- Many injuries were reported from Pacific coastal areas of the main Honshu island and the capital Tokyo, police said, while TV footage showed widespread flooding in the area. One person was confirmed dead.
- Helicopter footage showed massive inundation in northern coastal towns, where floods of black water sent shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through towns.
- Mud waves were shown racing upstream along the Natori river in Sendai city, blanketing farm fields.
- In the capital, where millions evacuated strongly swaying buildings, multiple injuries were reported when the roof of a hall collapsed during a graduation ceremony, police said.
- Plumes of smoke rose from at least 10 locations in city, where four million homes suffered power outages. Port areas were flooded, including the carpark of Tokyo Disneyland.
- The US tsunami monitoring center widens a warning to virtually the entire Pacific coast, including Australia and South America, after a massive earthquake in Japan.
CRESCENT CITY, Calif. — Tsunami waves spawned by a devastating earthquake in Japan battered the U.S. western coast Friday, sinking and smashing dozens of boats at harbors and sweeping at least five people out to sea.
Four people were rescued from the water in Oregon, but one man who was taking photos in Northern California was still missing.
Sirens sounded for hours before dawn along the West Coast and roadways and beaches were mostly empty as the tsunami struck. By midmorning, waves were crashing against the 30-foot bluffs in Crescent City, Calif., where a tsunami killed 11 people in 1964.
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The Coast Guard was searching for a man in the Pacific Ocean near the Klamath River in Del Norte County in Northern California. The man was swept away after he and two friends reportedly traveled to the shoreline to take photos of the incoming tsunami waves, Lt. Todd Vorenkamp said. His friends made it back to shore.
some people going out of there way to be stupid, i feel no pity for
Four people were rescued from the water in Oregon, but one man who was taking photos in Northern California was still missing.
Sirens sounded for hours before dawn along the West Coast and roadways and beaches were mostly empty as the tsunami struck. By midmorning, waves were crashing against the 30-foot bluffs in Crescent City, Calif., where a tsunami killed 11 people in 1964.
Are you there? Help us report
The Coast Guard was searching for a man in the Pacific Ocean near the Klamath River in Del Norte County in Northern California. The man was swept away after he and two friends reportedly traveled to the shoreline to take photos of the incoming tsunami waves, Lt. Todd Vorenkamp said. His friends made it back to shore.
some people going out of there way to be stupid, i feel no pity for
