huge devastation to the local area it hits in the afternoon local time on friday off the coast of honshu island some four hundred kilometers northeast of tokyo well it was nearly eight thousand times stronger than last may's last month's earthquake in new zealand that devastated the city of christ church we do now know that over seven hundred people have died in japan as a result of that earthquake and tsunami but that number was rising hourly and could be much higher as thousands are still reported missing do of course stay with us here on r.t. as we continue to cover the events unfolding in japan. it's into the. eating. what we also do know the turns the prime minister in the government can be declared a state of emergency at the fukushima one and two power plants as engineers are still trying to confirm. whether a reactor at one of the stations has gone into meltdown it's an automatic procedure the government is at pains to states after nuclear reactors shut down in the event of an earthquake allowing officials there to take. action the government has also been swift to give out advic

the force was so strong, the usgs said it moved the island of honshu to the east. it sped up the earth's rotation by 1.6 1.6 microseconds. >>> could -- by 1.6 microseconds. >>> could a quake like this send a wave across the coast? it could in deed, and it would be nothing new. >> the devastating kanto quake and the tsunami are an example of something that happened many times off the coast. the cascadia zone is capable of an earthquake every bit as japan's. >> when it happens there will be sue ma'am knees and -- will be tsunamis and a lot of shaking. everyone will feel it. >> reporter: the last one was 311 years ago. tsunami experts said the next surge would be greater than today's likely over alameda and the airport. the san francisco marina district. hundreds of homes are at risk. as we saw in santa cruz today, the golden gate could focus the energy into the bay. >> it could slosh back and forth. >> reporter: experts say it's difficult to predict because of the complicated ocean bottom and coastline. there's evidence, previous ones have scoured the coast and the r

well, the honshu central island here moved as much as eight feet during that earthquake. and we saw fracture zone of about 250 miles. so imagine that. that is further from san francisco, past san luis oh bis to is where we saw the horizontal break east of japan. in terms of the earth, enough of a shift happened with the earth's mass that the day actually became a little bit shorter by 1.6 microseconds, if you're counting, but the ax iks did shift by four inches. an earthquake of that size obviously has a tremendous aftershock sequence. 26 earthquakes so far above 6.0, and more than 100 at 5.0 or larger. >> we'll check in with you for the local weather in a little bit. we'll continue to monitor the earthquake throughout the weekend. right now a reporter is on his way to japan to cover the devastation. he has many friends there, and will start bringing us their stories starting tomorrow. live and online. >>> at 11:00, could a five or ten-second warning of an earthquake save your life? the earthquake warning system already in place in one california city, and it's coming to

and honshu island, the central island here in japan, moved by eight feet in that one main 8.9 earthquake. and for a global scale, the acceleration caused by that one event was enough to shift the earth's axis by four inches. it reacted to that major earthquake off japan, the 8.9. the aftershock sequence, impressive. you'll notice more than 26 and counting, 6.0 earthquakes which on their own would qualify for a major event around the bay area. those are the aftershocks. more than 105 or larger. you can see how the ground continues to settle there on the ocean floor just to the east of japan. impressive as these numbers are, this is considered a typical aftershock sequence for an earthquake that large. diane? >> my goodness. thank you, rob. >>> we have new video from the coastal city in japan, showing the incredible force of friday's tsunami. this video shows waves whipping through the streets, water sweeping away boats, cars and homes in its path. the devastation and deaths in the tsunami has been so overwhelming, that cities such as this one we're told have run out of food and people hav

three hundred fifty kilometers north of tokyo the lower floors of buildings like honshu our lives are being flooded and cars so overturned you can see on your screen some of the houses the cars from the flooded over there in our communication links are paralyzed making it difficult to confirm levels of damage or casualties tokyo's narita international airport has also closed all the quake's epicenter was located one hundred thirty kilometers off of japan specific coast and three residential areas some russians north of japan are also other threats with her if you see services on standby now again just to remind you we're looking at live pictures of the devastated area in a pram a tsunami is underway there is being hit by a tsunami after an eight point eight earthquake. you know. and now let's move on to other top stories on our team the colonel gadhafi forces retake key areas from brussels to locals warning that media exaggeration was stoping to foreign intervention nato is moving its fleet closer to libyan shores and won't rule out military action which russia refuses to support. nex

earthquake and results in the tsunami struck in the afternoon local time on friday off the coast of honshu weiland some four hundred kilometers north of these doors of tokyo but it was nearly eight panels in time stronger than last month's earthquake in new zealand that devastated the city of christ church and some of those saying search and rescue teams from around the world that helps in that disaster are now on their way to japan for fouls the rules of residence have already been moved in the fears of a leak at a second plant nearby the official number of deaths in japan after the tsunami stands at over seven hundred but local reports claim that thousands are still missing and that number. it is thought to still need to rise quite considerably emergency services are on high alert also in russia's far east which is located a very close to the area of the disaster with the u.n. nuclear watchdog the international atomic energy agency is currently japanese or for a tooth. with information as damage and a possible effects of the blast and some scientists are suggesting that that announcement

earthquake, one of the biggest ever, possibly the biggest ever to hit japan just off the island of honshu. we have a tsunami warning here. san mateo county is issuing a warning that says all beaches and low-lying coastal areas should be evacuated immediately. low-lying areas west of highway 1, move to high ground east of the highway. lind mar, this is the same for you. we don't know what's going to happen, but you have tremendous amounts of time. the waves are not expected to hit until 7:45. jeff ranieri is out near the ocean. jeff, continue this for us. >> reporter: well, as we just heard from marla and crew as well, there's no evacuations right now in the san francisco bay area. however, does it mean all of the concerns should be left by the waist side? as you can see back behind me here, the golden gate bridge and the sea rough as it usually and always is here in the san francisco bay, but the thing we are monitoring is in about three hours from now that's when the wave action is expected to increase, possibly some two to four feet as we have been hearing. and while that may not be sub

tremors are becoming weaker although just now we've registered a six point two shock to the east of honshu and a lot of aftershocks are coming from that area luckily they're not so powerful. in this region is going to subside in the next few hours. ok let's go to other news first to libya european leaders will hold a second round of emergency meeting on friday to discuss the situation in libya well they're expected to a demand the resignation of colonel gadhafi who has ruled the country for forty two years now it follows france's official recognition of libya's opposition as well as the invitation of two anti gadhafi rebel and voice to paris bushell is following developments between the e.u. and nato in brussels. france has officially recognized becoming the first major power to recognize libya's rebels as the legitimate rulers germany has distanced themselves from those views but there is a general falling in line with seeing here all of the major powers behind a common front italy which had been one of the most desirous of more diplomatic talks before any military action was taken of cou

honshu was about five hundred kilometers long so this is a huge section of the pacific plate boundary that's broken off and that's what gave rise to the big tsunami so the tsunami only one hundred one hundred k. east of sendai didn't take an exam to reach there it's a big earthquake now it's seven years since the asian tsunami tragedy how much better our people in the region are predicting the disasters and minimizing their own impacts. well that's a good question and i think the answer to it you would get a different answer from different sides knowledge and think we've certainly learned better with quakes we know where they happen we know that they will be larger earthquakes right around the pacific rim and if you call the. question is when will an earthquake of a particular size seven and i think we're no closer to that than we were one hundred years ago can be quite honest and it's probably an intractable question and i think we shouldn't focus on trying to predict instead we should focus as jeff and north americans have done so successfully is designing to withstand earthquakes i

and i've gotten some criticism for mentioning this in the book, even though honshu view matches as well. what i tried to do and just mentioning that, i wanted to talk about the contacts had to say something about how class affected the way people viewed andrew johnson from the very, very beginning. because his mother worked outside the home, work has been made essentially a summer home, people felt free to say things like that about the family. i doubt if she had been a married woman, middle-class woman if those kinds of rumors would be openly and broken during that time. so from the very beginning, it's not that he was poor. it was that his family was seen as marginal. there's a difference between what people would call the deserving poor, you know, driving people who were seen as really marginal. she married again his mother remarried a man who is as porous sheet, doesn't improve circumstances during that and it gets so bad she has to apprenticed her two children. the andrew johnson was apprentice to a taylor when he was 10 years old. his father was a couple years older. he was suppos

do we have radiation monitors off of honshu that are measuring anything in the ocean? or is it just monitors that are evaluating the air? >> the department of energy systems, as far as i mentioned, the airborne system that is monitoring ground contamination, but not over the ocean. the epa has made the monitors that you mentioned in alaska and hawaii has added several additional monitors. i am not aware of monitoring capability within the notion that we have -- with in a deep ocean that we have. that could be added if it was deemed necessary. i should add that the department of energy, through the calculational capabilities, using the source terms developed by the regulatory commission as being the worst cases, we do not anticipate a significant health act in any of the united states areas. >> thank you. mr. chairman. >> senator udall. >> thank you for being here. we of learned that just because an event is improbable does not mean it is impossible. in that spirit, let me turn to the design of the spent fuel pools. it seems like, based on what you've told us this morni

do we have radiation monitors off of honshu, are the measuring anything in the ocean or is it just monitors that are evaluating the air? >> the department of energy system as i mentioned, the airborne system that is monitoring the ground contamination but not out of the ocean the epa has made the monitors that you mentioned in alaska guam, has added several additional monitors. i am not aware of the monitoring capability within the ocean but we have that certainly could be if it was deemed necessary. i should add that the department of energy through the calculation of capabilities of the for more using the systems developed by the regulatory commission as being the worst cases we do not anticipate a significant health effect in any of the united states areas. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator udall. >> thank you mr. chairman and to the panelists. i think we began to learn that just because an even is in a probable doesn't mean that it's impossible. in that spirit let me turn to the design of the spent fuel pool. it seems like based on what you told us this morning that is a key part o