LOC09:23
06:23 GMT
(with map) TOKYO, March 12 (KUNA) -- The death toll from Friday's 8.8-magnitude earthquake and tsunami in northeastern and eastern Japan has risen to more than 705 and about 700 people remained missing as of Saturday morning, public broadcaster NHK said.
Among them, at least five people were killed in Tokyo following the 2:46 p.
m. (0546 GMT) quake. Up to 49 people in Tokyo were reported to be injured.
Kuwaiti Ambassador to Japan Abdulrahman Al-Otaibi said Kuwaiti citizens traveling in Japan are strongly encouraged to notify the embassy about their whereabouts and contact at following phone numbers: 0081 334550361, 0081 334550362 and 0081 334550363.
The country's most powerful earthquake on record triggered dozens of fires and a massive tsunami of up to 10 meters at intervals of about one an hour. The Tsunami made its way 10 km inland from the northern coast and swept away people, houses, cars and ships. The government on Saturday expanded the evacuation area around a nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture, about 240 km north of Tokyo, as a small amount of radioactive material could have been leaked at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s No.1 reactor.
The evacuation advisory was issued for people living within a 10-km radius of the plant from 3 km. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the amount of radiation reached around 1,000 times the normal level in the central control room of the No. 1 reactor. However, the agency said the level of radiation is not harmful to human health.
The number of partially or completely destroyed buildings has now reached some 3,400, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. It also said the northern coastal city of Rikuzentakata in Iwate Prefecture, some 400 km north of Tokyo, was nearly devastated, but the scope of the damage by a tsunami there is still unlcear.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said Saturday that tsunami danger level in quake-hit areas remains high. The agency also said it expects strong aftershocks in northeastern Japan for more than one month, calling for people to remain on high alert.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan inspected the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant, and the hardest-hit areas in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures. "Tsunami caused huge damage," Kan said. The premier set up emergency headquarters at his office on Friday and instructed to dispatch 50,000 troops as well as other emergency rescue teams Nine expressways were closed as of Saturday, while at least 312 domestic flights were cancelled. More than 120,000 people in Tokyo were unable to return home Friday evening due to the suspension of train operations, but most of the train network service in Metropolitan Tokyo resumed Saturday morning.
The focus of Friday's tremor was 24 km below the surface of the Pacific coast of Miyagi Prefecture. The quake measured 7, the highest level of the Japanese seismic intensity scale in some areas of Miyagi Prefecture.
The agency defines an intensity of 7 as strong enough to make most furniture moves to a large extent and some jumps up. (end) mk.rk KUNA 120923 Mar 11NNNN