Natural Disaster, Japan Earthquake | featured news

With a minute of silence, tolling bells and prayers, Japan will on Sunday mark the first anniversary of an earthquake and tsunami that killed thousands and set off a nuclear crisis that shattered public trust in atomic power and the nation's leaders.

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the east coast of northern Japan Sunday, prompting tsunami advisories for several coastal regions, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

A contraction in the first quarter at an annual rate of 3.7 percent was worse than economists had expected.

Japan's shelters are still packed, with no firm word on when evacuees may return home. Cleaning up the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl is likely to take decades and cost Japan an untold fortune.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that America would stand by Japan, saying she was confident the country will fully recover from its tsunami and nuclear disasters....

A strong aftershock rattled Japan and officials issued a tsunami warning Thursday night nearly a month after a devastating earthquake and tsunami flattened the northeastern coast. The warning was lifted 90 minutes later, but not before announcers on Japan's public broadcaster NHK told coastal residents to run to higher ground and away from the shore.

Authorities issued a tsunami advisory Monday morning for coastal areas of Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan after a 6.5-magnitude quake struck the region, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Japan is starting to confront years of post-tsunami reconstruction along its northeastern coast, grappling with an estimated 18,000 people dead and  hundreds of thousands left homeless.

Japan may need five years to rebuild from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that has caused up to $235 billion of damage, the World Bank said Monday.

Japan hoped power lines restored to its stricken nuclear plant may help solve the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years, triggered by an earthquake and tsunami that also left more than 21,000 people dead or missing.