Japan fights to avert meltdown at nuclear reactors

Japan fought March 13 to avert a disastrous meltdown at two earthquake-crippled nuclear reactors as estimates of the death toll from the tsunami that charged across its northeast rose to more than 10,000. Officials worked desperately to stop fuel rods in the damaged reactors from overheating after some controlled radiation leaks into the air to relieve pressure. The government said a building housing a second reactor was at risk of exploding after a blast blew the roof off the first the day before at the complex, 150 miles north of Tokyo. The fear is that if the fuel rods do not cool, they could melt the container that houses the core, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the wind.

Broadcaster NHK, quoting a police official, said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water triggered by Friday's 8.9-magnitude quake surged across the coastline, reducing whole towns to rubble.

Authorities have set up a 20-km exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant and a 10 km zone around another nuclear facility close by. Around 140,000 people have been moved from the area, while authorities prepared to distribute iodine to protect people from radioactive exposure.

Meanwhile, millions of Japanese were without drinking water or electricity today, surviving on instant noodles and rice balls. Kyodo news agency said, almost two million households were without power in the freezing north and about 1.4 million without running water. About 300,000 people were evacuated nationwide, many seeking refuge in shelters, wrapped in blankets, some clutching each other sobbing. Although the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000, it seemed overwhelmed by what's turning out to be a triple disaster. Teams searched for the missing along hundreds of miles of the Japanese coast, and thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centres that were cut off from rescuers and aid. Large areas of the countryside were surrounded by water and unreachable. Fuel stations were closed and people were running out of gasoline for their cars.