@TriciaGroom - the latest we have on the nuclear plants is that the four closest to the earthquake zone were indeed safely shut down. This info comes from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.
The British Foreign Office has opened a helpline on 020 7008 0000.
We're getting lots of questions regarding a state of emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yukio Edano, told a news conference the state of emergency was issued as a precaution and there is no radioactive leakage at the plant. A cooling function is not working and workers at the plant are trying to get backup power working.
Japanese news agency NHK says 44 confirmed dead, and many more missing.
Narita airport in Tokyo has apparently resumed outbound flights, according to Japan's Jiji press.
Kyodo news agency reports that a ship carrying 100 people was swept away by the tsunami. If we get any more information on this we will let you know.
Lots of questions pouring in from the audience. We'll do our best to publish and answer them quickly.
Amazing picture of what was previously "houses" coming up.
Steve, there's a tsunami warning for Fiji and rest of Pacific Basin but no word of damage.
Here's what we're reporting on likely economic impact:
"Stocks will probably fall on Monday, especially of those companies, that have factories in the affected areas, but on the whole the sell-off will likely be short-lived," said Mitsuhsige Akino, a fund manager at IchiyoshiInvestment Management.
Bond futures surged on worries the widespread damage would put further pressure on the already sputtering economy, while the most active gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, February 2012, inched higher.
"We still don't know the full scale of the damage, but considering what happened after the earthquake in Kobe, this will certainly lead the government to compile an emergency budget. We can expect consumption to fall. This could temporarily pull down gross domestic product," Yamamoto said.
A ship carrying 100 people was swept away by the tsunami which smashed into northeastern Japan on Friday following a massive earthquake, Kyodo news agency reported.
That's all we have so far. No independent confirmation by Reuters.
