'Worst crisis since WWII'

Says Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan, as country struggles to avert nuclear meltdown and care for millions of people without power or water

Says Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan, as country struggles to avert nuclear meltdown and care for millions of people without power or water

Tsunami ravages Japan: Click here for video

Japan struggled on Monday to avert a nuclear disaster and care for millions of people without power or water, three days after an earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 people in the nation's darkest hour since World War Two.


Officials rush a victim believed to have been contaminated with radiation to a hospital after officials claimed it was highly likely that a partial meltdown had occurred in one reactor of the Fukushima plant

The world's third-largest economy opens for business later today, a badly wounded nation that has seen whole villages and towns wiped off the map by a wall of water, leaving in its wake an international humanitarian effort of epic proportion.

A grim-faced Prime Minister Naoto Kan described the crisis at Japan's worst since 1945, as officials confirmed that three nuclear reactors were at risk of overheating, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.

"The earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear incident have been the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War II," Kan said.

"We're under scrutiny on whether we, the Japanese people, can overcome this crisis."

As he spoke, officials worked desperately to stop fuel rods in the damaged reactors from overheating. If they fail, the containers that house the core could melt, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.
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The most urgent crisis centres on the Fukushima Daiichi complex, where all three reactors are threatening to overheat, and where authorities say they have been forced to release radioactive steam into the air to relieve reactor pressure.
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The government did not rule out further blasts there but said this would not necessarily damage the reactor vessels.u00a0

2,00,000
Number of people who have been evacuated

1,00,000
Number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort

Volcano erupts
The Shinmoedake volcano on Japan's Kyushu island, resumed activity in a blast heard miles away. It was the biggest volcanic activity in Shinmoedake in 52 years, and caused widespread destruction and panic.