The Day Earth Moved

The day earth moved – By Zara

Rescuers struggled to reach survivors on Saturday morning as Japan reeled after an earthquake and tsunami struck in deadly tandem. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake set off a devastating tsunami that sent walls of water washing over coastal cities in the north. Concern mounted over possible radiation leaks from two nuclear plants near the earthquake zone.
The death toll from the tsunami and earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, was in the hundreds, but Japanese news media quoted government officials as saying that it would almost certainly rise to more than 1000. About 200 to 300 bodies were found along the waterline in Sendai, a port city in northeastern Japan and the closest major city to the epicenter.
Thousands of homes were destroyed, many roads were impassable, trains and buses were not running and power, all cellphones remained down. On Saturday morning the JR rail company said that there were three trains missing in parts of two northern prefectures.
A state of emergency had been declared at a nuclear power plant, were pressure had exceeded normal levels. Thousands of people living near the Fukushima nuclear power plant had been ordered to evacuate.
On Friday at 2.46 PM, Tokyo time, the quake struck. By Saturday morning, Japan was filled with senses of desperation, as survivors called for help and rescuers searched for people in the rubble. But still it was not over. The next danger came from the sky. Officials warned people to stay inside and seal whatever was left of their homes.
When the quake hit, the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi complex did exactly what they were supposed to do, they shut down. But then the wave came, drowned the backup generators who needed too cool the reactors and took out spare batteries. It only started as a natural disaster; the next waves were even terrifying. Fear and uncertainty sheared 700 billion dollars off the Tokyo stock exchange in only three days, and the world’s third...