Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says his country is trying to cope with what he called "an unprecedented disaster." The magnitude 8.9 earthquake that triggered a deadly tsunami on the country's Pacific coast swept away entire villages and also damaged nuclear powerplants.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Saturday evening addressed Japan expressing hope that as he put it, "this disaster can somehow be survived."
Besides helping the thousands of people injured and made homeless by the quake and tsunami, Kan said his top priority is the emergencies with a pair of damaged nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture.
Japanese government officials, including Kan, are stressing that despite a large explosion that injured at least four people at the Fukushima Number One plant, the reactor is undamaged and not single citizen affected by radiation.
A 20 kilometer evacuation zone has been established around that reactor and a 10 kilometer zone around another one.
Government officials say a cooling process using sea water and boric acid is underway at the Number One reactor.
Radiation has been detected outside the Number One plant, but the government is saying the intensity of the radiation did not increase after the explosion.
There is little sign of panic here in Fukushima prefecture. Most people are focused on rebuilding damaged homes, seeking clean water and mourning those who have died.
Food supplies are running short. And in the few markets remaining open, rice balls and bottle water are out of stock.
The death toll remains unclear. Troops are finding hundreds of bodies along the beaches where tsunamis swept out to sea entire communities in neighboring Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.
It is expected that 50,000 Japanese troops will get assistance from foreign teams that are beginning to converge on northeaster Japan. More than 50 nations have offered help.
At Fukushima airport, helicopters are constantly landing and taking off with first responders in what is being described as an unprecedented disaster that has overwhelmed Japan.