Friday, March 11, 2011
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Japan Expands Evacua
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Japan Expands Evacuation Around Nuclear Plant
The power plants, known as Daiichi and Daini and operated by Tokyo Electric Power, experienced critical failures of the backup generators needed to power cooling systems after the plants were shut down, as they were during the quake.
About 45,000 people were affected by the evacuation order at the Daiichi plant, where those living within a six-mile radius were told to leave. The evacuation of the second plant was for a one-mile radius because “there is no sign that radiation has been emitted outside,” an official said.
Failure of the cooling systems allowed pressure to build up beyond the design capacity of the reactors. Small amounts of radioactive vapor were expected to be released into the atmosphere to prevent damage to the containment systems, safety officials said. They said that the levels of radiation were not large enough to threaten the health of people outside the plants, and that the evacuations had been ordered as a precaution.
Nuclear safety officials focused initially on the Daiichi plant. But by Saturday morning Japan had declared states of emergency for five reactors at the two plants, an escalation that added to worries about the safety of nuclear facilities in the quake-prone Japanese islands.
The Daiichi and Daini plants are 10 miles apart in Fukushima Prefecture, about 150 miles north of Tokyo and close to the quake’s epicenter off the coast.
The plants’ problems were described as serious but were far short of a catastrophic emergency like the partial core meltdown that occurred at the Three Mile Island plant near Harrisburg, Pa., in 1979.
A Japanese nuclear safety panel said the radiation levels were 1,000 times above normal in a reactor control room at the Daiichi plant. Some radioactive material had also seeped outside, with radiation levels near the main gate measured at eight times normal, NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, quoted nuclear safety officials as saying.
The safety officials said there was “no immediate health hazard” to residents from the leaks, which they described as “minute,” and people were urged to stay calm.
The emergency at the Daiichi plant began shortly after the earthquake struck on Friday afternoon. Twenty hours later, the plant was operating in a battery-controlled cooling mode because the quake had knocked out the two main sources of the electrical power needed for safe shutdown.
Tokyo Electric said that by Saturday morning it had installed a mobile generator at Daiichi to ensure that the cooling system would continue operating even after reserve battery power was depleted. Even so, the company said it was considering a “controlled containment venting” in order to avoid an “uncontrolled rupture and damage” to the containment unit.
“With evacuation in place and the oceanbound wind, we can ensure the safety,” a nuclear safety official, Yukio Edano, said at a news conference early Saturday.
It was not clear, however, how long the cooling systems could continue to function in emergency mode or when normal power supplies could be restored.
Two workers were reported missing at the Daiichi plant, but the company did not explain what might have happened to them.
A pump run by steam, designed to function in the absence of electricity, was adding water to the reactor vessel, and as that water boiled off, it was being released. Such water is usually only slightly radioactive, according to nuclear experts. As long as the fuel stays covered by water, it will remain intact, and the bulk of the radioactive material will stay inside. If the fuel is exposed, it can result in a meltdown.
The reactors at the two plants shut down when the earthquake began at 2:46 p.m. Friday. As designed, emergency diesel generators were started up to provide power for continued operations of the cooling functions.
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Ken Belson contributed reporting from New York.
Snap analysis: Japan
Snap analysis: Japan may have hours to prevent nuclear meltdown | Reuters
(Reuters) - Japanese officials may only have hours to cool reactors that have been disabled by Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami or face a nuclear meltdown.
Second Nuclear Plant
Second Nuclear Plant In Japan Has Serious Damage
TOKYO, March 12 (Reuters) - Tokyo Electric Power (9501.T: Quote) said it had 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.
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 at this point, which would involve a release of radiation. (Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Edmund Klamann)
Report: Radioactive
Report: Radioactive material may have leaked from Japanese reactor - CNN.com
Tokyo (CNN) -- A mammoth earthquake and subsequent tsunami may have caused radioactive material to leak from an atomic power plant in northeast Japan, a major electric company said Saturday, according to a news agency report.
Citing the Tokyo Electric Power Co., Japan's Kyodo News Agency said that radioactive substances may have seeped out of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, about 160 miles (260 kilometers) north of Tokyo. Earlier, the agency had reported that authorities may purposefully release radioactive vapor to alleviate pressure at the power plant.
Telecom Operators China Unicom, Chunghwa Telecom Report Damaged Undersea Cables - WSJ.com
The earthquake in Japan Friday damaged undersea cables on and could affect connectivity of calls made between China and Japan, said a spokesman for the parent company of Chinese network operator China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Watch Raw Dramatic Video Footage Of The Massive Earthquake & Tsu - KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho |
YAHOO.COM - An 8.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Northeast Japan spawned a ferocious tsunami that's caused massive destruction; flattening whole cities, starting raging fires, and killing hundreds. Nearly 88,000 people are reported missing, according to the official Kyodo news agency.
LinkedIn launches social news product | Reuters
(Reuters) - LinkedIn, the Internet social network for professionals, launched a service on Thursday that creates a customized online newspaper from articles being shared by the network's more than 90 million members.
The new service, called LinkedIn Today, displays excerpts of the most popular articles in various industries, in a move that the company hopes will spur users to interact more on its website.
World stunned by Jap
Saudi Activists Fail
Saudi Activists Fail to Gather Amid Heavy Police Presence - Businessweek
March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Protesters in Saudi Arabia failed turn up in mass for a so-called Day of Rage, after police were deployed in force to deter political activists from gathering.
In Riyadh, police manned checkpoints around the Al-Rajhi mosque, which was thought to have been a focal point for protesters. On Olaya, a main street in the center of the capital, was quiet and police were positioned on every block.
World stunned by Japan quake but little rapid action | Reuters
(Reuters) - The U.S. air force delivered emergency coolant to an earthquake-hit nuclear power station in Japan Friday but initial world reaction to the massive tremor and tsunami was otherwise marked by stunned inaction.
Japan Orders Evacuation From Near Nuclear Plant After Quake - Bloomberg
About 5,800 residents near a Tokyo Electric Power Co. atomic plant were ordered to evacuate because of a possible radiation leak and the failure of the cooling system after Japan was struck by a powerful earthquake.
Tsunami waves hit Ha
Tsunami waves hit Hawaii as storm sweeps islands - Yahoo! News
HONOLULU – Tsunami waves hit Hawaii in the early morning hours Friday and were sweeping through the island chain after an earthquake in Japan sparked evacuations throughout the Pacific and as far as the U.S. western coast.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says Kauai was the first island hit early Friday by the tsunami, and the waves surged in Waikiki. Officials predicted Hawaii would experience waves up to 6 feet, and officials spent hours evacuating ahead of the storms. The waves early Friday weren't that large.
Residents in coastal areas of Hawaii were evacuated to refuge areas at community centers and schools while tourists in Waikiki were moved to higher floors of their high-rise hotels.
Roadways and beaches were empty as the tsunamis struck the state, which had hours to prepare.
The tsunami was generated by an 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan.
The governor of Hawaii ordered the evacuation of coastal areas and warned residents to take the threat seriously. People waited in long lines stocking up on gas, bottled water, canned food and generators, and officials told residents to stock up on water and fill their cars with gas.
The tsunami slammed the eastern coast of Japan, sweeping away boats, cars, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control. It's traveling at 500 mph — as fast as a jetliner — and likely won't change speed until it hits a large area of land, said Kanoa Koyanagi, a geophysicist for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Waves are predicted to hit the western coast of the United States between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. EST Friday. People near the beach and in low-lying coastal areas of Point Conception in Santa Barbara County were told to move immediately inland to higher ground.
While the tsunami is likely to go around smaller islands, the size of Hawaii's islands will amplify the waves, which will crash hardest against harbors and inlets.
"They're going to be coming in with high currents, they can pick up boulders from the sea floor ... they can pick up cars, they can pick up fuel tanks, those things become battering rams and so it just amplifies the destruction in a big tsunami," said Chip McCreery, director for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Waves almost 5 feet high hit Midway, a tiny island in the North Pacific about 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu.
"We're preparing for the worst and we're praying for the best," said John Cummings III, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management.
The Honolulu International Airport remained open but seven or eight jets bound for Hawaii have turned around, including some originating from Japan, the state Department of Transportation said.
All harbors are closed and vessels were being ordered to leave the harbor.
The warnings issued by the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cover an area stretching the entire western coast of the United States and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska.
In Alaska, a dozen small communities along the Aleutian Island chain were on alert. The first waves — about 1 1/2 feet — hit the western portions of the islands with no reported damage.
In Oregon, county officials in Oregon were assessing whether to sound sirens; waves in Brookings in southern Oregon could also hit 6 feet.
The tsunami was expected to hit the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory at 4 a.m. EST, but no big waves came. Waves about 2.6 feet high hit the beach in Saipan, and sirens still sounded in the empty streets.
Maria Mettao, who works at the front desk of the Hyatt Regency Saipan in the Northern Marianas, said hotel staff has been given the all-clear. Mettao said the hotel has allowed guests to leave from the higher floors where they had been evacuated.
In the Philippines, officials ordered an evacuation of coastal communities along the country's eastern seaboard in expectation of a tsunami following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan.
Disaster management officials in Albay province southeast of Manila say they ordered residents to move to designated evacuation sites that are at least 15 feet above sea level.
Evacuation orders were lifted in Guam.
Australia was not in danger because it was protected by island nations to the north, including Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, that would largely absorb any wave activity, said Chris Ryan, a forecaster at the National Meteorological and Oceanographic Centre, the Australian government agency that monitors the threat.
The warning was issued Friday at 3:31 a.m. EST. Sirens were sounded about 30 minutes later in Honolulu alerting people in coastal areas to evacuate. About 70 percent of Hawaii's 1.4 million population resides in Honolulu, and as many as 100,000 tourists are in the city on any given day.
Honolulu's Department of Emergency Management has created refuge areas at community centers and schools, and authorities on Kauai island have opened 11 schools to serve as shelters for those who have left tsunami inundation zones.
Streets cleared out across Hawaii with usually bustling Waikiki mostly free of any foot traffic, with police ordering every one into the hotels. At the hotels, visitors were evacuated to the third floor and higher.
"The situation we're confronting right now is unpredictable. We do not know how many waves are going to be coming," said Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle. "We do not know which wave, if any wave, causes the most damage and how long the series of waves can last. As a result of that, it is our responsibility to do those things which are absolutely essential to ensure that human life is saved."
A small 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Big Island just before 5 a.m. EST, but there were no reports of damages and the quakes weren't likely related, a geophysicist with the United States Geological Survey said.
U.S. Coast Guard rescue crews were making preparations throughout the Hawaiian Islands to provide post-tsunami support, with cutter and aircraft crews positioning themselves to conduct response and survey missions.
Dennis Fujimoto said the mood is calm but concerned on the island of Kauai while people readying for the tsunami.
There's long lines at gas stations, and at the Wal-Mart, one of the few places that was open to midnight, people were stocking up on supplies.
"You got people walking out of there with wagonloads of water," he said.
The worst big wave to strike the U.S. was a 1946 tsunami caused by a magnitude of 8.1 earthquake near Unimak Islands, Alaska, that killed 165 people, mostly in Hawaii. In 1960, a magnitude 9.5 earthquake in southern Chile caused a tsunami that killed at least 1,716 people, including 61 people in Hilo. It also destroyed most of that city's downtown. On the U.S. mainland, a 1964 tsunami from a 9.2 magnitude earthquake in Prince William Sound, Alaska, struck Washington State, Oregon and California. It killed 128 people, including 11 in Crescent City, Calif.
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Associated Press Writers contributing to this report include Mark Niesse and Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu, Denise Petski in Los Angeles, Kathy McCarthy in Seattle, Michelle Price and Carson Walker in Phoenix.
Magnitude-8.9 Quake,
Hawaiians brace for
Tsunami warning issu
Hawaiians brace for 6-foot tsunami waves
Hawaiians brace for 6-foot tsunami waves
The evacuation area includes Waikiki, but wave heights are expected to be lower there because of a barrier reef.
Oahu resident Dain Okimoto looks down on the lights of Waikiki from Tantalus Drive. Okimoto was one of thousands who sought higher ground after the tsunami warning. (Eugene Tanner, Associated Press / March 10, 2011)
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By Alexandra Zavis and Rong-Gong Lin II Los Angeles Times Staff WritersMarch 11, 2011, 4:37 a.m.
Reporting from Oahu, Hawaii and Los Angeles --Hawaiians were bracing for tsunami wave heights of up to 6 feet high Friday morning after the devastating 8.9 earthquake near Japan.The possible tsunami was expected to hit Hawaii at about 3 a.m. local time, or 5 a.m. Pacific time. Maximum wave heights of up to 6 feet could approach Hilo, on the northern edge of the island of Hawaii, and Haleiwa Harbor, on the northern edge of the island of Oahu, officials said.
Waikiki, the tourist hub in Honolulu, however, is protected by a barrier reef, so wave heights there were expected to be lower.
Photos: Scenes from the earthquake
Some refuge centers at schools were already filling up in the overnight hours, and lines were forming in front of convenience stores. Police combed shoreline neighborhoods, ordering evacuations and closing roads.
Officials warned that tsunami can last for hours, and attract multiple destructive waves. They also said that people were showing up at hospitals seeking shelter, and authorities urged them to go elsewhere to keep the medical facilities available for any injured people.
John M. Cummings III, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management, said authorities consider the warning "very, very serious."
"Anyone in the shoreline areas should get out now," he said. The evacuation area included the tourist hub of Waikiki, where thousands of people are packed into a string of beachfront hotels. Hotel guests staying in concrete or steel-reinforced buildings were being moved to the third floor for safety, Cummings said.
City buses have been converted into evacuation shuttles to help get people to refuge areas at schools and parks, where they can wait out the possible tsunami.
Warning sirens were sounding about once every hour since they began ringing just before 10 p.m. Local time. Tsunami waves could hit the islands just before 3 a.m., or about 5 a.m. Pacific time, said Chip McCreary of the the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center told reporters.
"These are not like surf waves," he said. "These waves effectively wrap around islands, so all coasts will be affected."
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center officials warned that "urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property. Tsunami waves effectively wrap around islands. All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."
McCreary said the waves would reach the island of Kauai first and would take between half an hour and an hour to cross the state.
Residents in coastal areas were calling and texting each other, sending e-mails and dropping in on their neighbors to discuss possible evacuation plans. At least some were skeptical that any significant waves would hit Hawaii. The last time a tsunami warning was issued in Hawaii was after the earthquake in Chile in February last year.
"It was nothing," said Susanne Ball, a 46-year-old artist who lives just blocks from the beach in the eastern Oahu town of Kailua. "We went to somebody's home up on the hill. ... The tsunami came and went and there was just nothing. ... There wasn't even a ripple."
She went to bed and said she would wake up at 2 a.m. to check the news and decide whether to evacuate.
Authorities urged anyone who isn't in the tsunami evacuation zone to stay off the roads to keep them clear for those who might need to escape.
The massive tsunami generated in the wake of an 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Japan has already caused extensive damage.
Early Friday, authorities issued a tsunami warning for Oregon and northern and central California; Southern California was under a lower-level tsunami advisory.
Tsunami activity of more than 2 feet has struck the Pacific island of Saipan, and tsunami waves of more than 1 foot have hit Wake Island.
Tsunamis are a series of long ocean waves, and each wave crest can last five to 15 minutes or more and inundate coastal areas, the warning center said.
"The trough of a tsunami wave may temporarily expose the seafloor but the area will quickly flood again," the warning center said.
Television images have already shown significant tsunami damage in Japan, inundating farmland, structures, and automobiles along the coast. As the tsunami hit land there, muddy water swept cars, roofs and churning debris across fields and flat lands. News footage shot from the air captured vehicles fleeing ahead of massive sheets of water that carried burning structures along on the surface. The tsunami overtook homes and roads, showing little sign of ebbing.
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times
Comments (13)
Add / View comments | Discussion FAQJennBurke at 4:44 AM March 11, 2011I'm praying for the families effected by this; but also for my family that is stationed in Oahu!!!!
mc6565 at 4:09 AM March 11, 2011i thought evacuate meant leave, not go to the third floor???
AminBandeali at 3:07 AM March 11, 2011
http://healthomg.com/2011/03/10/japanese-quake-how-to-survive-a-tsunami/
Some tips to survive a Tsunami. Please share with your loved ones in the affected area.
Magnitude-8.9 Quake, Tsunami Strike Japan
By WSJ Staff
Kyodo/Reuters
Houses swept by a tsunami smoulder near Sendai Airport in Japan.
TOKYO—The strongest earthquake to hit Japan in at least 300 years rocked the country on Friday afternoon, triggering a 10-meter tsunami that violently engulfed cars and other objects in its path in northern Japan, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and setting off tsunami warnings for 53 countries around the world.
Police raised the death toll to 60, with 39 missing while dozens were injured in a wide range of areas including Miyagi Prefecture and central Tokyo, according to Kyodo News and the Associated Press.
The quake, one of the five biggest in history with a magnitude of 8.9, caused mass panic around Tokyo, where workers evacuated their buildings and power was cut off in 4.1 million households in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures. The natural disaster could derail the country's nascent economic recovery and increase Japan's already massive public debt, which is 200% of gross domestic product.
The government issued an official emergency at one of the country's nuclear plants after the quake shut down its reactors and caused problems with the cooling system. Officials said there are currently no reports of radiation leakage.
A tsunami warning issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii included Japan, Russia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Guam, the Northern Marianas, the Marcus Islands and the Wake Islands, and extended across the Pacific Ocean to include Central and South America. New Zealand also issued a tsunami warning. Australia said there was no threat of a tsunami on its coast. In Hawaii, a tsunami alert was issued at about 10 p.m. local time.
Asia Today: Massive Earthquake Strikes Japan
3:12A devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake has struck Northern Japan. What are the implications for a country already coping with slow economic growth and political instability? WSJ's Jake Lee and Mariko Sanchanta, deputy Tokyo bureau chief, discuss.
Asia Today: Earthquake Hits Japan; Markets React
2:50Brad Frischkorn of Dow Jones Newswires and WSJ's Yumiko Ono give firsthand accounts of the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on Friday and discuss market reactions and economic implications.
Tokyo Residents Shocked After Quake
1:21Aftershocks rippled through Tokyo, after a devastating earthquake hit Northern Japan. The Wall Street Journal spoke to the city's residents about the quake.
Tsunami Warning Issued In Hawaii
2:00Hawaii was one of many areas Friday that launched tsunami warning after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Japan. Video courtesy of Sky News.
Devastating Quake Hits Japan
2:00A huge 8.9 magnitude quake hits Japan causing a ten meter high tsunami along parts of the country's coastline.
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Strong Quake Strikes Japan
Kyodo/ReutersNear Tokyo Station, the epicenter of the capital city, people were streaming out onto the street, where the only option was to walk—buses and taxis weren't available and all trains were halted. Cell phone reception was down, causing long lines to snake around pay phones. The country's ports and airports shut down and car navigation systems indicated that almost every entrypoint to the highway was closed. Children walked home from school, some with protective head gear. People were huddled around televisions, trying to grasp the extent of the damage in Japan.
"This is the worst quake I've ever felt that was based so far away from Tokyo," said Kiyomi Suzuki, 69 years old, who has lived in the capital city all her life.
"A screen fell off my desk," said Varun Nayyar, an associate director at UBS Securities Japan, who hastily evacuated his building. "I don't understand why more people weren't leaving the building. I'm from India, and if an earthquake of this strength had hit there, a lot of buildings would have collapsed."
As helicopters buzzed overhead, a group of Chinese tourists huddled in front of a gate at the outer moat of the Imperial Palace, in Tokyo's Otemachi business district.
Amid the damage, some signs of normalcy returned. In Nihonbashi district of central Tokyo district, more than 100 people were waiting for buses, and TV broadcasts reported that the subway had restarted. "I don't know how long I will have to spend to go back home," said a housewife in her 60s, who was standing at the end of the line before the bus stop.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan, embroiled in a political funding scandal that could derail his premiership, appeared calm and composed on national television in a blue emergency workers' outfit. He asked the public to remain calm and said there was no danger of leaked radiation from nuclear plants. "We will secure the safety of the people of Japan and the government Japan will make every effort possible to minimize the damage," Mr. Kan said.
At Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi plant, three reactors shut down automatically as designed. The quake also caused diesel-powered generators used to cool the reactors to stop operating, leaving the utility company with a shortage of coolant to bring the reactors to a safe temperature.
Meanwhile, the three reactors at Tohoku Electric Power Co.'s Onagawa plant in Miyagi, near the epicenter of the quake, also shut down automatically. A few hours later, the company said that it observed smoke coming from the building housing the No. 1 reactor at the plant.
French nuclear engineering group Areva said it hasn't been informed of any impact on its installations in the country. The company operates a joint venture with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp. specialized in nuclear fuel called MNF, as well as a zirconium making plant, Cezus, which is a fully owned unit of Areva.
All other Japanese power companies operating nuclear power plants in the country said their facilities are operating normally.
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As mobile phones and landlines remained down in Tokyo, Twitter proved to be one of the best ways to contact loved ones and get updates on the quake.
Unable to use cellphones, many used their smartphones to tune into television broadcasts and find out what had happened.
"It's very convenient being able to watch live TV when the phones are down," said Minori Naito, an employee of Royal Bank of Scotland in Tokyo. "Otherwise, we'd have no idea what is going on."
At 3:24 p.m., a large aftershock struck, which could be felt standing on the ground outside of buildings in central Tokyo. People gasped while looking up at skyscrapers swaying gently and construction cranes shaking violently atop half-completed buildings. Glass panels on the ground floor of many newer buildings shimmied but few appeared to break. Inside the office buildings, the shaking felt violent.
A tsunami warning included Japan, Russia, Taiwan, Guam, the Northern Marianas, the Marcus Islands and the Wake Islands, while 15 nations and territories were covered by a tsunami watch.
The yen and Tokyo stocks fell, while Japanese government bond futures gained. The quake was originally reported at a magnitude of 7.9 but was later upgraded to 8.9, apparently exceeding the 8.8 quake that struck off Chile's coast in February 2010.
In Tokyo, hundreds of concerned office workers tried in vain to make calls on jammed cell-phone networks. Many of them gathered in open areas. The crowd appeared spooked by the sound of glass windows rattling in tall buildings.
Aftershocks were continuing, with one hitting magnitude 7.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
NHK Television reported that water could be seen rising over cars and pouring into warehouses at Onahama port in Fukushima Prefecture; in Iwate Prefecture a building was washed away, with boats and cars swirling around in the rising waters.
Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesSmoke rising from Tokyo's waterfront Daiba district after the quake
The governor of Miyagi Prefecture asked for Japanese military forces to be sent in to help, Kyodo News Service reported. The quake was centered 130 kilometers to the east of the prefecture's capital, Sendai. The Defence Ministry was sending eight fighter jets to check the damage, the agency said.
Tokyo's major airports halted flights, but the city's Narita airport had reopened by Friday evening. The long-distance shinkansen bullet train service was suspended.
Two nuclear plants on the Pacific coast in Fukushima Prefecture were automatically shut down, according to Kyodo.
The Bank of Japan set up a disaster control team, headed by BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, and said it would do all it could to supply liquidity to the market. The government set up a task force at the Prime Minister's Office.
The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average closed 1.7% lower, the U.S. dollar rose to around 83.30 yen from 82.80 yen earlier and June JGB futures ended 0.66 higher at 139.20 points, having hit an intraday high of 139.90 just after the quake.
"The impact in the currency exchange market was a bit magnified because the overall market flow was thin. Now we'll pay attention to damage situations and if this is going to have a big negative impact on the domestic stock markets, the yen will keep weakening ahead," said Mitsuru Sahara, a senior dealer at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
Analysts from Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service both said it was too early to say how the quake might affect the country's credit ratings.
Richard Jerram, a Singapore-based economist at Macquarie Securities with long experience in Japan, said that while the scale of damage was hard to predict, "the most obvious concern is the debt market. That's going to be the thing to watch."
Japan's political logjam won't likely be a problem, as "you're obviously going to get a cooperative approach," he said.
Susumu Kato, Credit Agricole CIB's chief Japan economist, said the post-earthquake reconstruction will weigh on the government's expenditure as well as its fiscal position, though he said it's still too early to offer any estimates.
Associated PressThe quake brings down a bookstore ceiling in Sendai
"The timing of an interest rate hike will likely be postponed further. I expect the earliest interest rate increase in Japan will be later than 2013," Mr. Kato said.
Insurer Swiss Re's Asia chief economist, Clarence Wong, said he doesn't expect the earthquake to have a severe impact on Japan's exports at large, given that many production lines of electronics producers have already been moved to other Asian countries.
However, he said domestic consumption will likely be hurt by the impact of the quake, "but post-crisis reconstruction will help drive gross domestic product upwards due to the increase of government spending."
Several Asian airlines said Friday that the quake would disrupt flights to Japan. South Korea's two major airlines said they suspended some flights: Korean Air Lines Co. initially halted flights to Narita and Haneda airports, but later said it resumed flights to Haneda airport. Asiana Airlines Inc. said it stopped flights to Narita, Haneda and Sendai airports, until there is proved to be no threat.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. said its flights to Japan were affected by the earthquake, and that it expects the flights to continue to be affected in the coming days. The carrier said two of its flights to Tokyo's Narita Airport from Hong Kong were diverted to Nagoya and Osaka on Friday, while another flight to Nagoya from Taipei was diverted to Osaka.
More
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- Tokyo Grapples With Its Vulnerability
- Telecom Operators Report Damage to Undersea Cables
- Crude's Fall After Quake Likely Short-Lived
- Nikkei Falls 1.7%, TSE Systems Unaffected
- Yen, Asian Currencies Slide
- Live Blog: Updates From Japan Real Time
- Photos | Live Video | Reader Comments
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