imMEDIATE EFFECTS !
- Four trains went missing along the coast and a ship carrying 100 people was swept away
- Fire has engulfed swathes of the coast in Miyagi prefecture's Kesennuma city, one-third of which was apparently under water.
- A major explosion hit a petrochemical plant in Sendal and further south a huge fire swept across an oil refinery
- 1800 homes were destroyed in the city of Minamisoma near Fukushima.
- A dam burst in the north east of Fukushima sweeping away homes.
- At least 20 people were injured in Tokyo when the roof of a hall collapsed on to a graduate ceremony.
- Aftershock rattled the whole of Japan, workers in Tokyo rushed and gathered in parks
- Tokyo office workers spent the night in their offices as their lifts stopped working due to power cuts
- Trains stopped running, leaving millions of office and other workers stranded.