International News Roundup for Feb. 27 - Mar. 13

This is not original reporting. All information has been compiled from CNN, Reuters and BBC. Silver Chips Online posts this news summary to provide readers with a forum for discussion.

Sendai, Japan

Mar.11 - An 8.9-magnitude earthquake, epicenter on the Miyagi Prefecture off the east coast of Japan, caused the formation of 30-foot tsunami. The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis. The death toll from the tragedy neared 1,600 on Sunday, with more than 1,900 injured and nearly 1,500 missing, according to the National Police Agency. Buildings heaved and collapsed and numerous fires ignited. Six million households, more than ten percent of the total in Japan, are without electricity. Furthermore, the U.S. National Weather Service issued tsunami warnings for at least 50 countries and territories. West Coast, US

Mar. 12 - The tsunami rolled across the Pacific as fast as a jetliner at 800km/h before hitting Hawaii and the West Coast. Since then, thousands of people were ordered to evacuate coastal areas in California, Oregon and Washington. The biggest waves of more than two meters were recorded near California's Crescent City. In addition, a tsunami warning extended across the continent to South America, where many other coastal regions were evacuated. There have been no reports of major damage from those regions.

Shirakawa, Japan

Mar. 11 - Due to the 8.9 earthquake, the Japanese government is operating on the presumption that there's been a partial meltdown inside two of the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in northeastern Japan. Officials are keeping an eye on several nuclear plants, outside of which radiation has been detected at abnormally high levels. The greatest concern is at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility. It is still too hot inside the affected reactors to confirm any danger.Sanaa, Yemen

Mar. 1 - Hundreds of thousands rallied in Yemen's largest cities to mourn the protesters killed in Aden. The day was named "Tuesday of Rage." Tens of thousands more marched through the streets of Ibb and Taiz, south of Sanaa. Protesters fought to end Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade rule. In the capital Sanaa, demonstrators chanted "With blood and soul we support you, Aden," referring to the southern port city where most of the 24 people killed in the past two weeks of protests have died. Already rocked by separatism and an al Qaeda insurgency, Yemen is one of the Arab nations most shaken by popular protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East.