JAPAN'S LATEST DESTRUCTION

JAPAN DEVASTATED

Despite some more optimistic statements earlier from the company that runs the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 150 miles north of Tokyo, where engineers are struggling to prevent an explosion at a third reactor, Japan's Kyodo News reports:

Tokyo Electric Power Company said Monday fuel rods were fully exposed again in the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima power plant as of 11 p.m. TEPCO said a steam vent of the pressure container of the reactor that houses the rods was closed for some reason, leading to a sudden drop in water levels inside the reactor.

As NHK, Japan's state broadcaster, reported earlier, after the rods were first exposed: "The firm says a core meltdown might have occurred." There have already been explosions at both the plant's No. 1 and No. 3 reactors, where Japanese officials said there might have been partial meltdowns.

The Kyodo news agency also reported that the power company said that radiation levels at the Fukushima Daiichi plant on Monday were twice what they had been previously.

11:49 A.M. Video of Tsunami Waves Obliterating Japanese Towns

As Japan's citizens deal with the aftermath of Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami, new video continues to come to light of the initial impact of the disaster.

On Monday, Japan's state broadcaster NHK aired chilling video shot on Friday as the tsunami obliterated the town of Minamisanriku, where officials fear that as many as 10,000 residents might have been killed. In the video, posted online by The Associated Press, people can be seen fleeing for their lives in the valley below just as the waves crash in:

On Sunday, television crews from Britain's Channel 4 News and Al Jazeera English reported on the devastation in Minamisanriku. Near the end of the Channel 4 report, there is a view of the ruined town from what looks like a similar vantage point to that shown in the clip above.

The A.P. report also includes footage of the tsunami sweeping through Kesennuma, about 25 miles north of Minamisanriku.

This dramatic eyewitness video of the moment the tsunami swamped Kesennuma has also been broadcast on Japanese television:

More dramatic video of the tsunami, shot by an eyewitness as water tore through the town of Miyako on Friday, was posted online by ITN a short time ago:

11:14 A.M. Video of Obama's Remarks on Crisis in Japan

Here is Associated Press video of President Barack Obama saying on Monday: "like all Americans I continue to be heartbroken by the images of devastation in Japan."

11:00 A.M. Interviews With Survivors in Miyagi

There is video in our previous update of the moment the earthquake struck Japan's Miyagi Prefecture. This video report from Dan Chung and Laurence Topham of The Guardian shows the remarkable extent of the destruction in Miyagi today and includes interviews with survivors:

10:27 A.M. Death Toll Rises as Bodies Wash Up on Japan's Shores

As my colleagues Martin Fackler and Mark McDonald report, the death toll in Japan continues to rise as the bodies of people killed and swept out to sea as Friday's tsunami retreated are now washing up on shores near the earthquake's epicenter.

Japan's Kyodo News reports that about 2,000 bodies were discovered in Miyagi Prefecture on Monday:

The number of dead or people unaccounted for following the magnitude 9.0 quake topped 5,000 after around 1,000 bodies were found Monday on several shores on the Oshika Peninsula in Miyagi Prefecture, while police and firefighters worked to recover another 200 to 300 bodies in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi.

According to local police counts nationwide, the death toll stood at 1,886 with 2,369 missing.

Meanwhile, the Miyagi prefectural government said another 1,000 bodies were spotted in the town of Minamisanriku where the local government has been unable to contact around 10,000 people -- over half the local population.

The fate of several tens of thousands of people, including about 8,000 residents of the small coastal town of Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture, remains unknown.

These new video images of the disaster, shot by a crew for Japan's state broadcaster NHK as the earthquake and tsunami struck Miyagi on Friday, were broadcast on on Monday:

9:34 A.M. Details of the Battle to Prevent a Third Explosion

This video report, from Japan's state broadcaster NHK via Reuters, explains how the cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 150 miles north of Tokyo, are supposed to work and what has apparently gone wrong there:

My colleagues at The Times graphics desk have produced an interactive graphic to explain "How a Reactor Shuts Down and What Happens in a Meltdown."

As Japan's Kyodo News reports, efforts are now underway to prevent a third explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, where a failure in an emergency cooling system on Monday meant that fuel rods in the plant's No. 2 reactor were fully exposed for some time earlier on Monday. Kyodo explains:

The rods were exposed as a fire pump to pour seawater into the reactor to cool it down ran out of fuel, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. The firm had reported the loss of cooling functions as an emergency to the government.

TEPCO said water levels later recovered to cover 30 centimeters in the lower parts of the fuel rods.

The seawater injection operation started at 4:34 p.m., but water levels in the No. 2 reactor have since fallen sharply with only one out of five fire pumps working. The other four were feared to have been damaged by a blast that occurred in the morning at the nearby No. 3 reactor.

The utility firm said a hydrogen explosion at the nearby No. 3 reactor that occurred Monday morning may have caused a glitch in the cooling system of the No. 2 reactor.

Similar cooling down efforts have been taken at the plant's No. 1 and No. 3 reactors and explosions occurred at both reactors in the process, blowing away the roofs and walls of the buildings that house the reactors.

It is feared that the No. 2 reactor will follow the same path. To prevent a possible hydrogen explosion at the No. 2 reactor, TEPCO said it will look into opening a hole in the wall of the building that houses the reactor to release hydrogen.

The company has also begun work to depressurize the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor by releasing radioactive steam, the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said. Such a step is necessary to prevent the vessel from sustaining damage and losing its critical containment function.

With only one fire pump working, TEPCO is placing priority on injecting water into the No. 2 reactor, although both the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors still need coolant water injections, according to the agency.

9:17 A.M. Japan Insists Crisis Is Not as Bad as Chernobyl

Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Yukio Edano, said on Monday that even in a worst-case scenario the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 150 miles north of Tokyo, is unlikely to be as severe as the catastrophe at Chernobyl 25 years ago, Kyodo News reported.

Following remarks at a news conference by Mr. Edano, Kyodo reported that it is "highly likely" that there has been some melting of the three damaged reactors at the plant.

8:41 A.M. Video of Explosion at Nuclear Plant on Monday

As my colleagues Hiroko Tabuchi and Matthew Wald report, there was an explosion earlier on Monday at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station's No. 3 reactor.

According to Japanese officials, the explosion blew the roof off the containment building around the reactor but did not damage the core.

The new blast came two days after a similar explosion tore the outer wall and roof off the building housing reactor No. 1 at the same plant on Saturday.

Here is video from Japanese television of the explosion at the reactor building on Monday:

8:17 A.M. Live Video Stream From Japan's State Broadcaster

Here is a live stream of video from NHK World, the Japanese state broadcaster's English-language news channel, which is providing rolling coverage of the nuclear crisis and the aftermath of Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami:

8:09 A.M. Steam Released From Third Reactor at Nuclear Plant

Engineers have released steam from a third reactor at a nuclear plant 150 miles north of Tokyo on Monday, where there have already been explosions at two other reactors, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported minutes ago.

Hours after an explosion at the No. 3 reactor of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, 150 miles north of Tokyo, Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, said that fuel rods inside the core of the complex's No. 2 reactor were almost fully exposed.

As Reuters reports

The plant operator said water levels fell as fuel for pumps that are used for seawater injection operations ran out. Tokyo Electric earlier said the cooling functions of the reactor had been lost and began injecting seawater into the reactor to cool it down.

The news agency added that a local report said "a meltdown of the fuel rods could not be ruled out. A meltdown raises the risk of damage to the reactor vessel and a possible radioactive leak, experts say."