WORLD NEWS/ JAPAN FACES "WORST CRISIS SINCE WWII"

The estimated death toll from Japan's disasters climbed past 10,000 today as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple nuclear reactor meltdowns and hundreds of thousands of people struggled to find food and water. Prime minister Naoto Kan said it was the nation's worst crisis since World War II. "This is Japan's most severe crisis since the war ended 65 years ago," Kan told reporters, adding that Japan's future would be decided by its response. The country is under a nuclear emergency as 6 nuclear plant operators are worked frantically to try to keep temperatures down in several reactors crippled by the earthquake and tsunami. At least 2 of them have suffered partial meltdowns and officials say the next 24 hours will be crucial. Ocean water is being pumped into several reactors to keep them cooled down. 200,000 thousand people have been evacuated from areas surrounding the plant. At least 22  people are being treated for the effects of exposure to radiation. 3 of them are in serious condition. Workers in protective clothing have been checking residents as they leave the evacuation zone. Adding to the misery have been a series of punishing aftershocks, some of which had been greater than magnitude-6. The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 70% probability of a magnitude-7 quake in the next 3 days. Japanese officials raised their estimate Sunday of the quake's magnitude to 9.0, a notch above the US Geological Survey's reading of 8.9. Either way, it was the strongest quake ever recorded in Japan, which lies on a seismically active arc.

Meanwhile, near freezing temperatures compounded the misery of survivors along hundreds of milesof the northeastern coast battered by the tsunami that smashed inland with breathtaking fury. Rescuers pulled bodies from mud-covered jumbles of wrecked houses, shattered tree trunks, twisted cars and tangled power lines while survivors examined the ruined remains. Almost 2 million households were without power in the freezing north and about 1.4 million were without running water. The death toll surged because of a report from Miyagi, 1 of the 3 hardest hit states. The police chief told disaster relief officials more than 10,000 people were killed, a police spokesman said. That was an estimate, only 400 people have been confirmed dead in Miyagi, which has a population of 2.3 million. And in Minamisanrikucho, 10,000 people, nearly 2/3 of the population, have not been heard from since the tsunami wiped it out, a government spokesman said. NHK showed only a couple concrete structures still standing, and the bottom 3 floors of those buildings gutted According to official counts, more than 1800 people are confirmed dead,  including 200 people whose bodies were found today along the coast, and more than 1400 were missing in Friday's disasters. Another 1900 were injured. Dozens of countries have offered assistance. 2 US aircraft carrier groups were off Japan's coast and ready to help. Helicopters were flying from one of the carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan, delivering food and water in Miyagi. 2 other US rescue teams of 72 personnel each and rescue dogs arrived today, as did a 5 dog team from Singapore. Even in Tokyo, which was spared major damage from the quake, power outages and highway closures persisted today and the city's transit network remained shut down