HEARTS ACHE FOR JAPAN

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HEARTS ACHE FOR JAPAN
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maven's note: This image is re-processed and DEDICATED TO JAPAN

And then the real killer rolled in.

A ferocious tsunami, unleashed by the fifth-worst recorded quake in the world since 1900, slammed the coast, swallowing everything in its path and churning several miles inland.

Homes, cars, trains and ships were carried away. Fires burned out of control. At least hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of people died. Families of hundreds more searched for them in the oily, debris-clogged water left behind, to no avail.

Hours later, the waves washed ashore on Hawaii and the West Coast of the U.S. From California to Washington, thousands of people were evacuated and miles of coastal highways were closed. Beaches were swamped, harbors were heavily damaged and a man taking photos on a California beach was swept out to sea.

Early today, as rescue workers ventured into inundated areas of Japan, the casualty list was growing. Up and down the eastern coast, 236 were confirmed dead. In the city of Sendai, 200 to 300 more bodies were found. More than 1,000 were injured.

And at least 741 still were missing, many of them swept away in an instant as they drove on highways, rode on trains, walked on sidewalks, sailed on ships, by tons and tons of raging water.

Aftershocks hit not just Japan
TOKYO -- The monster, 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, killing hundreds of people and causing billions of dollars in damages, continued to shake the island nation today with more than 109aftershocks, more than a dozen greater than magnitude 6.

While rescuers tried to save the injured, find the missing and recover the bodies of the dead, terrified people huddled in emergency shelters as temblors rattled the country from the east coast to Tokyo and beyond.

"They will continue for not just days ... but months and potentially years," said David Applegate, a senior adviser at the U.S. Geological Survey.

The aftershocks also alarmed nuclear authorities as they tried to bring back on line five reactors shut down by the quake and prevent a meltdown at two plants in Fukushima, 170 miles northeast of Tokyo. The U.S. Air Force and Japanese ground crews were trucking generators and batteries to the site today to try to get its emergency cooling system operating again, but experts said time was critical and worried that another bad quake could delay their mission.

The aftershocks rippled through Japan's -- and the world's -- economies as well. The disaster shut down operations of dozens of multinational companies that do business in Japan, including the Detroit automakers; forced airlines to cancel flights; shut down bullet trains and highways, and left hundreds of thousands of workers stranded in Tokyo.

Rebuilding, which economists predicted would cost many billions of dollars, surely will stress the world's third-largest economy at a time when it's coping with a troubled banking system and a massive budget deficit, equal to 10% of its economic output.

Scenes of the massive destruction were visible across the nation this morning, a day after the quake shook Japan's eastern coast, triggering a tsunami that sent waves as high as 23 feet washing over the island.

As the sun rose, coastal areas were under water, and shattered houses, cars and boats floated in the filthy remnants of the sea. Plumes of black smoke filled the skies as cars, homes and factories burned out of control.

The official death toll stood at 236, but Japanese news media reported that at least 1,000 were believed dead, thousands more injured and tens of thousands displaced.

Hundreds more were reported missing, and survivors told horror stories of people, cars, buildings and even a train full of passengers being swept away by walls of water.

Aerial scenes of the town of Ofunato showed homes and warehouses in ruins. Sludge and high water spread over acres of land, with people seeking refuge on roofs of partially submerged buildings. At one school, a large white "SOS" was spelled out in English.

Experts said the temblor was the worst ever recorded in Japan and 8,000 times stronger than the quake that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month.

The quake occurred off the eastern coast of Japan early Friday afternoon. Within minutes, it was shaking cities and villages along a 1,300-mile stretch of coast. Koto Fujikawa, 28, was riding a monorail in Tokyo when the quake hit and had to pick her way along narrow, elevated tracks to the nearest station.

"I thought I was going to die," she said. "It felt like the whole structure was collapsing."

A tsunami warning was quickly posted for the Pacific Rim region. In Hawaii, California, Oregon and Washington, coastal residents were told to move to high ground.

But when the waves began rolling in a few hours later, they were not as bad as had been feared, and most of the damage was to beaches and ports.

Only one person in the U.S. was known to have died -- a man sucked out to sea as he took pictures on a northern California beach.

At a news conference Friday, President Barack Obama said he was "heartbroken" over the disaster. He said he had spoken to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and offered "whatever assistance is needed."

Kan, in a TV address, asked his people to act calmly.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Japan has mobilized 8,000 troops and 300 planes and has asked for help from U.S. military personnel stationed in the country.

Options being considered include allowing firefighting helicopters to land on the USS Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier, for refueling and transporting medical supplies.