Japanese Emperor Akihito has said he is "deeply worried" about the
crisis his country is facing following last Friday's earthquake and
tsunami.
In an extremely rare appearance, Akihito went on live TV to make his
first public comments on the disaster, and said he was praying for the
people.
The emperor spoke after technicians were forced to temporarily abandon a quake-crippled nuclear plant.
The 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami has killed thousands of people.
TV stations interrupted programming to show the
sombre-looking emperor describing the natural disaster as "unprecedented
in scale".
The 77-year-old - deeply respected by many Japanese - said:
"I hope from the bottom of my heart that the people will, hand in hand,
treat each other with compassion and overcome these difficult times."
FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI CRISIS
- Reactor 1: Was first to be rocked an explosion on Saturday; fuel rods reportedly 70% damaged
- Reactor 2: Fears Tuesday's blast breached containment system; fuel rods reportedly 33% damaged
- Reactor 3: Explosion on Monday; smoke or steam seen rising on Wednesday; roof damaged
- Reactor 4: Hit by a major blaze on Tuesday and another fire on Wednesday
Travel warnings
Akihito - who acceded to the throne in 1989 after the death of
his father Emperor Hirohito - said he prayed that every victim of the
quake and tsunami could be saved.
At least 10,000 people are feared dead following the disaster, which pulverised swathes of the country's north-east coast.
Meanwhile engineers are racing to avert a nuclear catastrophe
at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant, 220km (140 miles) from
Tokyo.
It has sent low levels of radiation wafting into the capital
over the past day, spreading fear in the city and international alarm.
Winds from the plant are currently blowing north-west out into the Pacific Ocean.
On Wednesday, yet another fire broke out in a reactor, while smoke or steam billowed from another one.
A helicopter was being used to dump water on the facility.
In other developments:
- France urged its nationals in Tokyo to leave the country or move south; two Air France planes were sent to begin evacuation
- Australia advised its citizens to consider leaving Tokyo and the most damaged prefectures; Turkey warned against travel to Japan
The atomic crisis has been caused by the tsunami breaking back-up diesel generators which kept the nuclear fuel cool.
Workers have been dousing the reactors with seawater in a
frantic effort to stabilise their temperatures, since the first in a
series of explosions rocked the plant on Saturday.
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