A huge tsunami is feared to have killed at least 1,000 people as it swept over coastal Japan after the country's biggest earthquake on record.
The massive 8.9 magnitude quake on Friday caused a 33ft wave that hit the port of Sendai city, sending ships crashing into the shore and carrying cars and buildings through streets.
Other coastal and low-lying areas in the northeastern region were inundated.
On Saturday the battered nation was slowly comprehending the sheer scale of Japan's worst ever disaster - as fears of a nuclear nightmare emerged.
Police there say between 200 and 300 bodies have been found, with at least 349 people missing. However, Kyodo news agency estimates the death toll at more than 1,000.
Meanwhile, the threat of radiation continues to develop after faults occurred at two nuclear power plants.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was in "full response mode" after the unit 2 reactor of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant suffered a cooling fault and thousands of residents in surrounding areas were evacuated.
The coastal power plant, northeast of Tokyo, is still partially submerged.
Japanese officials also reported that pressure was increasing inside the unit 1 reactor’s containment area and decided to vent steam vapour to lower the pressure through radiation filters.
Three reactors at the plant were operating when the earthquake hit and the water level in each of the reactor vessels remained above the fuel elements, according to the IAEA.
According to the Foreign Office over seven million households were without electricity and 11 reactors at four different power stations stopped operating after safety shutdowns.
Japan's nuclear plant operator Tokyo Electric Power said on Saturday that a second of its atomic plants in the quake-hit area was experiencing reactor cooling problems.
Although officials believed radiation would only rise about eight-fold in the containment area, Kyodo news agency said a nuclear safety panel believed it was 1,000 times above normal.
Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan wanted the evacuation zone around the stricken reactors widened to six miles as officials examined the area.
"I will go to the Fukushima nuclear power plant to grasp the situation there," Mr Kan said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that new coolant supplies were offered to help the stricken nuclear plant.
"Japan is very reliant on nuclear power and they have very high engineering standards, but the plant came under a lot of stress with the earthquake and didn't have enough coolant," Mrs Clinton said.
Japanese authorities eventually decided on using domestic supplies of renewal coolant, according to Reuters.
Up to four passenger trains are unaccounted for, a dam in Fukushima prefecture broke and washed away numerous homes, and a major explosion occurred at a Sendai petrochemical complex.
On Saturday morning a thick pall of smoke and flames rose from dozens of cars on fire at a car distribution lot in Fukushima, after they had been dumped in a heap by receding waters.
An airport engulfed by muddy torrents on Friday still had flowing water streaming over its runways more than 12 hours later.