Japan earthquake, tsunami kill hundreds

TOKYO - A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Japanese police say 200 to 300 bodies were found in Sendai, the closest major city to the epicenter. Earlier, police confirmed at least 60 people had been killed and 56 were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of Friday's disaster; extensive search and rescue efforts were still just getting underway.

Special section: Earthquake in Japan

A Japanese coast guard official said a search is under way for a ship carrying 80 dock workers that was swept away by the tsunami. The vessel was washed away from a shipbuilding site in Miyagi prefecture, close to the earthquake's epicenter.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicenter.

Hawaii, entire Pacific, under tsunami warning

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Japan had closed four nuclear power plants as a precaution. A state of emergency was declared at one of the plants after its cooling system had a mechanical failure. Thousands of residents around the plant were ordered to evacuate. Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at any.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the emergency measure at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima was a precaution and that the facility was not in immediate danger.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images of surging water broadcast by Japanese TV networks resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.

Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.

The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were severely damaged and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped. Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were also suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.

The quake was the strongest ever recorded in the highly seismically active archipelago, Japan's meteorological agency said. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake in Tokyo and its vicinity, which killed more than 140,000 people, registered 7.9.

The most serious earthquake of the past several decades struck near Kobe in January 1995, killing more than 6,000 people and measured only a 6.8.

Japan has strict urban building codes requiring buildings to withstand even the most massive quakes and has prepared extensively for major earthquakes like Friday's. But the toll of any quake -- in damage and in lives -- is unpredictable, depending on timing, location and the presence of older buildings that don't meet modern earthquake standards, among other factors.

Matt Alt, an American living in Tokyo, told "The Early Show" on Friday morning that the quake lasted less than a minute, "but it felt a lot longer than that."

Alt and his wife rushed out of their home as the temblor struck. "The undulation of the Earth was so powerful we had to hang onto the outside of our house," he told CBS News. "This was nothing like I've ever experienced."

Adam Ezard, a British expatriate, said he and his colleagues rushed out of their office building with each powerful aftershock. Ezard and other witnesses said telephone lines were down or overloaded and attempts to reach loved ones were unsuccessful.

Jesse Johnson, a native of the U.S. state of Nevada, who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit.

"At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table," he told The Associated Press. "I've lived in Japan for 10 years and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."

Japan disasters: Deaths may exceed 10,000 in Miyagi