国际英语新闻：New Explosion Heard at Japanese Nuclear Plant

Workers at a nuclear plant in Japan are battling to prevent a meltdown in one of the reactors, following the massive earthquake that struck the north-east part of the country on Friday.  The latest government figures figures put the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami at over 2,000 - but that’s likely to increase dramatically in the coming days.

Amateur video footage, taken in a coastal town as the tsunami hit, reveals the full power of the tsunami in horrific detail. Residents had just minutes to flee before the wall of water came ashore.

The town where the video was taken, Miniami Sanriku on the coast of Miyagi prefecture, is now flattened. Authorities say 10,000 of its residents are missing.

Japan has now dispatched 100,000 troops to the area and rescue teams from the U.S, New Zealand, China and other countries have arrived.

They are being greeted with scenes of utter devastation. The death toll is rising steadily; it will be weeks before it’s known how many people lie buried here, or how many were swept out to sea.

Reunions bring relief from the horror, but for many more families the search for loved ones continues.

The grim rescue efforts are taking place against the backdrop of a threatened nuclear disaster.

Now, technicians are trying to avoid a meltdown in one of the three reactors by pouring in seawater. They say the fuel rods were almost completely exposed - raising fears of a further catastrophe.

All people within a 20-kilometer radius of the plant are being evacuated to other areas.  The Japanese government is playing down fears of a nuclear disaster - but news reports say that a U.S. aircraft carrier in the area has been redeployed, after recording abnormally high levels of radiation 100 kilometers offshore.