An 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami claimed the lives of hundreds of people in Japan, devastating some areas and echoing worldwide.
"As of 09:00 local time (00:00 GMT), 236 people were killed and 725 are missing, 1,028 received injuries of varying degrees," a police source said.
The NHK channel said the death toll nears 400, with more than 700 people missing.
The tremor, the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, affected nine prefectures. The tsunami wave which followed was up to ten meters high and swept away houses and cars. Japanese authorities estimate the overall death toll to be well above 1,000.
Many coastal areas in Pacific, Southeast Asia and Latin America, including Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Chile and the Philippines, were put on tsunami alert.
The quake also caused Asian stocks to tumble. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 1.7% to 10254.43, its lowest close since January 31. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index fell 1.6%, and South Korea's Composite index fell 1.3%, the Wall Street Journal said.
Experts say that, according to preliminary calculations, the earthquake probably shifted the figure axis of the Earth by 15 cm and made earthday 1.6 microseconds shorter.
Russia braces for more waves
A four-meter tsunami wave forced evacuation of about 11,000 at Kuril Islands in the Russian Far East, but no serious damage was recorded. Russian experts say more waves may strike the Kuril Archipelago and the Sakhalin Island.
"The tsunami alert remains in force for southern Kurils and the south of the Sakhalin island, our experts expect more tremors and are on high alert," the head of the Russian Hydrometeorological Center, Alexander Frolov, said in an interview with Russia's Rossiya 24 TV channel.
The earthquake may also trigger volcanic and seismic activity in the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin, which are part of the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Neither the tremor, nor the tsunami affected infrastructure objects being built for the 2012 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held in Russia's Vladivostok, architects said.
Supermoon blamed
Experts in Russia and worldwide attribute the quake to increased solar activity and the 'supermoon' phenomenon.
Next week the Earth will witness the so-called "supermoon phenomenon," when the Moon will be at its closest, at just about 356,600 km (some 221,500 miles). Some scientists say the natural satellite's gravitational pull may affect tectonic activity and tidal waves.
"By studying powerful quakes in Chile, Sumatra and Haiti, we discovered that a certain factor was important, namely the influence of tidal waves. The thing is that the quakes occurred below the ocean bed, and tidal waves may have been the cause," Russian astronomer Leonid Zotov said.
"Taking into consideration a weak link between Moon orbit and earthquakes we might possibly expect a slight increase in seismic activity around March 19. But fears of something catastrophic are groundless," his colleague Vladimir Surdin said.
Other scientists say the link between Moon's position and seismic activity on the Earth was too subtle to be taken into consideration.
"Influence of that kind seems highly unlikely to me," said seismologist and geologist Alexander Marakhanov. "Maybe there is some kind of interaction, but it is very difficult to establish the direct link between these two events."
Scientists say there is a "traditional candidate" to be blamed for the disaster - a less powerful earthquake which occurred near Japan's largest Honshu Island several days ago.
Earthday becomes shorter
The quake probably shifted the figure axis of the planet by 15 cm and made earthday 1.6 microseconds shorter, NASA scientist Richard Gross told RIA Novosti. Italian scientists said on Friday that the figure axis shifted by 10 cm.
Russian astronomer Leonid Zotov said the statements are unlikely to be ever proved in practice.
"No one ever managed to trace and record such changes," he said. "No official data was ever presented to confirm such reports."
Nuclear leak feared
Several nuclear plants along the Japanese coast were also partially shut down.
Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief sanitary official, ordered to use all available equipment to monitor radiation levels in Russian Far East as emergency situation was declared at two Japanese nuclear power plants.
According to the most recent measurements in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, radiation levels were normal.
Increased radiation levels were registered at the Fukushima-1 nuclear plant in northeast Japan as power shortages caused the reactor to overheat, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said. People living within the 10-km range from the plant were told to evacuate.
In some parts of the plant, radiation levels rose up to 1,000 times above the norm, and are about eight times above the norm outside the station, the Kyodo news agency said on Saturday.
Later on, the state of emergency was also declared after a cooling system of three reactor units failed at the neighboring Fukushima-2 NPP, just some 12 km from Fukushima-1, Associated Press said.
Kyodo also reported explosions at two major Nissan factories and a fire in a turbine building at the Onagawa nuclear power plant in the Miyagi prefecture. There was also a fire at an oil refinery in Ichihara city in the Chiba prefecture near Tokyo.
Russian tourists found, student reported missing
Ten Russian tourists, who went missing after the quake, were found, a spokeswoman for the Russian union of travel industry said.
The tourists, who were part of a group of 18 travelling with the Vand International travel company, will fly to Moscow at 5:30 local time on Saturday.
The Russian embassy in Tokyo is trying to establish contact with a Russian student, who was studying in the tsunami-hit city of Sendai.
"There are no reports that any Russians were killed or injured in the quake," a source in the Russian embassy said.
MOSCOW, March 12 (RIA Novosti)
