Japan quake live blog: Rain, snow in forecast for quake-hit region

Commuters wait for transportation at Tokyo's Chofu train station on Monday

An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan early Friday, triggering tsunamis that caused widespread devastation and crippled a nuclear power plant. Are you in an affected area? Send an iReport. Read the full report on the quake, tsunami and the fears surrounding Japan's damaged nuclear reactors.

[6:14 a.m. ET Monday, 7:14 p.m. in Tokyo] Two search-and-rescue teams from the United States arrived in the coastal city of Ofunato, Japan, which was severely damaged in the quake.  It took their convoy six hours to travel from Misawa Air Base on Monday.
[5:49 a.m. ET Monday, 6:49 p.m. in Tokyo] Rolling blackouts in Japan that began on Monday are expected to last through April, Kyodo News Agency reports. The blackouts will affect 45 million people in Tokyo Electric Power's service area, according to the report.
[5:40 a.m. ET Monday, 6:40 p.m. in Tokyo] Accuweather.com reports that rain and snow are in the forecast for Senadai, Japan, and quake-hit regions on Tuesday and Wednesday. High temperatures are expected to be only 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday and 38 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday.
[5:21 a.m. ET Monday, 6:21 p.m. in Tokyo] The death toll from the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan late last week has risen to 1,833, authorities said Monday. At least 2,369 people were missing and 1,898 injured, according to the National Police Agency Emergency Disaster Headquarters. The number of dead is expected to go up as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas.
[5:20 a.m. ET Monday, 6:20 p.m. in Tokyo] Tests detected low levels of radioactivity on 17 U.S. Navy helicopter crew members when they returned to the USS Ronald Reagan after conducting disaster relief missions in Japan, the military said Monday. No further contamination was detected after the crew members washed with soap and water, the Navy said.
[5:18 a.m. ET Monday, 6:18 p.m. in Tokyo] New Zealand has sent a rescue team of 10 from Christchurch to the hard-hit Japanese coastal city of Sendai. Christchurch is cleaning up from its own earthquake on February 21 that killed 123 people.

[4:45 a.m. ET Monday, 5:45 p.m. in Tokyo] The International Skating Union has announced that the World Figure Skating Championships scheduled for Tokyo later this month will be postponed or canceled.
The event was scheduled for March 21 to 27.
The ISU World Team Trophy scheduled for Yokohama April 14 to 17 also will not take place during that time, the ISU said.
[4:37 a.m. ET Monday, 5:37 p.m. in Tokyo] Tokyo Electric Power Company said electricity rationing was beginning in some areas as of 5 p.m. Tokyo time Monday, Kyodo News Agency reported.
[4:15 a.m. ET Monday, 5:15 p.m. in Tokyo] Japanese stocks were hammered Monday, with the leading Japanese stock index finishing more than 6% lower in investor reaction to last week's massive earthquake, CNNMoney reports.
The Nikkei-225 index ended down 634 points, or 6.2%, to 9,620. The index finished near its lows for the day, having dropped more than 675 points before a small recovery.
[3:43 a.m. ET Monday, 4:43 p.m. Monday in Tokyo] The U.S. 7th Fleet has temporarily repositioned its ships and planes away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after detecting low level contamination in the air and on its planes in the area, the U.S. Navy said.
The ship was operating about 100 miles northeast of the power plant when the "airborne radioactivity" was detected, the Navy said.


[3:34 a.m. ET Monday, 4:34 p.m. Monday in Tokyo] Another nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan has lost its cooling capabilities, the country's chief Cabinet secretary said Monday.
The problem was detected in the plant's No. 2 reactor Monday afternoon, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters.
Water levels were falling and pressure was building up inside, he said, and officials were working on a plan to release pressure and also inject seawater into that reactor.
Workers have been scrambling to cool down fuel rods at two other reactors at the plant - No. 1 and No. 3 - after an 8.9-magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami Friday knocked out the reactors' cooling systems.
There are six reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi plant, located about 65 km (40 miles) south of Sendai.
[3:25 a.m. ET Monday, 4:25 p.m. Monday in Tokyo] Another nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan has lost its cooling capabilities, Kyodo News reported Monday.
The problem was detected in the plant's No. 2 reactor Monday, Kyodo said. Public broadcaster NHK said pressure was building up inside.
[2:35 a.m. ET Monday, 3:35 p.m. Monday in Tokyo] Japan's central bank announced plans Monday to inject a record 15 trillion yen ($183 billion) into the economy to reassure global investors in the stability of Japanese financial markets and banks.

[2:13 a.m. ET Monday, 3:13 p.m. Monday in Tokyo] A massive emergency response operation is underway in northern Japan, with world governments and international aid groups coming together to bring relief to the beleaguered island nation.
Sixty-nine governments have offered to help with search and rescue, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
The Japanese government has received 11 Urban Search and Rescue teams (USAR), the group said in a situation report, including teams from the United States, South Korea, Australia, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, China, Hungary, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
[1:36 a.m. ET Monday, 3:36 p.m. Monday in Tokyo] Despite lingering tension between the two countries, a 15-member Chinese rescue team was working Monday at an elementary school in Oofunato, a city in Japan severely damaged by the 8.9-magnitude earthquake.  The gesture comes just six months after the two countries sparred in a territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
[11:43 p.m. ET Sunday, 12:43 p.m. Monday in Tokyo] Six people were injured after Monday morning's explosion at the building housing the No. 3 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Co. says. Seven people earlier reported as missing have been accounted for, a company official told reporters.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed images of white smoke rising above the facility. Citing the nation's nuclear and industrial agency, NHK said that a wall of one of the reactor's buildings had collapsed.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary said a day earlier that accumulating hydrogen gas "may potentially cause an explosion" in the building housing the No. 3 reactor at the Daiichi plant. A similar scenario played out Saturday, when a blast caused by hydrogen buildup blew the roof off a concrete building housing the plant's No. 1 reactor.

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