Earthquake throws northeastern Japan into pandemonium

Japan’s northeastern region, near the epicenter of Friday`s massive earthquake, was in pandemonium with flames burning up at various places in major cities and downtown areas being flooded.

In Miyagi Prefecture, a ship with 100 passengers on board was swept away by a tsunami caused by the earthquake, Japan’s NHK television quoted a prefectural police official as saying. The whereabouts of the ship and the fate of its passengers remain unknown.

Car after car swarmed to roads along the Natori River that runs through Sendai to avoid sea water from the tsunami. The speed of the water, however, was faster than that of cars running at full speed. NHK showed footage of vehicles being engulfed by the water.

Japan’s earthquake experts said the tsunami was of a scale rarely seen even once in 100 years.

The Natori River streams from north to south through Sendai, the biggest city in northeastern Japan. In the suburbs of Sendai, enormous waves ran after cars that were escaping the scene.

Many buildings across the city were on fire, belching dark smoke. TV footage showed passengers at Sendai Airport, which is close to Sendai Bay, evacuating to the top of the airport building.

Shattered glass was scattered on roads in central Sendai, which were crowded with people running out of buildings. Many frantically made phone calls to see if their loved ones were safe, while others held each other or collapsed to the ground.

Lights on the exteriors of downtown buildings went off due to a massive power outage, as did traffic lights. Main roads around the area were heavily congested.

Japan’s Kyodo News Agency reported that employees of the Miyagi prefectural government wailed after the earthquake and that sprinklers in the government building went off and flooded hallways.

The damage was not limited to Miyagi. The port of Ofunato in neighboring Iwate Prefecture was also hit by a tsunami. Fukushima Prefecture south of Miyagi also saw a 7-meter tsunami. A 50-meter part of the bank of the Edogawa River in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo collapsed, causing sea water to flood nearby areas.

Japan’s Defense Ministry put on emergency standby its Self Defense Force units near earthquake-hit areas and sent troops to prefectures that called for help.

Scenes of the catastrophe in northeastern Japan are spreading rapidly through the social network site Twitter as the cut-off of phone lines prompted people to use microblogs on Twitter to disseminate information.

In Sendai, coastal areas and fields near ports were swept by a giant tsunami, which also flooded airport runways. Some sent Twitter postings showing extreme anxiety by saying the tsunami was engulfing fields in Sendai or that they could not see if their family members were safe.

The Internet homepage of the Sendai city government was inaccessible. Many Twitter postings said the situation in the city was serious, as Sendai Station was closed, overpasses cracked, and power, gas and water supply cut off.

One Japanese Twitter user said in a posting, “Sendai is in the dark. The train station is in the dark. So are taxis, cars and department stores.”

Another user said, “People have no idea of what`s going on because of the power outage. All I can hear is the sound of helicopters, sirens and screams.”

mindy@donga.com