Japan

A powerful explosion has hit a nuclear power station in north-eastern Japan which was badly damaged in 11 of March devastating earthquake and tsunami.

A building housing a reactor was destroyed, but authorities said the reactor itself was intact, but officials later announced the cooling system of a second reactor at the plant had failed.

The news sparked fears of a the risk of a further explosion or leak of radioactive material.

An evacuation zone around the damaged nuclear plant has been extended to 20km (12.4 miles) from 10km, and a state of emergency declared.

A huge rescue and relief operation is under way in the region after the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which are thought to have killed more than 1,000 people.

An estimated 200,000 people have been evacuated from the area, the International Atomic Energy Agency says.

The government has urged residents to remain calm and is preparing to distribute iodine to anyone affected.

Air and steam, with some level of radioactivity, was earlier released from several of the reactors at both plants in an effort to relieve the huge amount of pressure building up inside.

The tsunami that followed the 8.9-magnitude earthquake wreaked havoc along a huge stretch of on Japan's north-east coast, sweeping far inland and devastating a number of towns and villages.

The scenes of devastation there are enormous - giant shipping containers, buildings, cars, trash and some fires are still burning close to the harbour. More than 90% of the houses in three coastal communities had been washed away by the tsunami.

In my opinion the biggest disaster is the nuclear explosion. It's a danger what will be there for a lot of time. The consequences of the tsunami or the earthquake can be repair, but the radioactive material will be there for a long, long time. What's also bad luck is that the central of Fukusima is one of the biggest central's in the world. They always say that only two or three reactors exploit, but one of them equally to ELEVEN of normal reactors!

Another fact what I find important is that nearly a third of the population in Japan are older than 65 years. Yesterday I saw a reportage from a woman tried to renew his house. She said that it will cost more than 10 years to return live how it was before the Tsunami. And it's logical that for old people it's more difficult return to begin from zero.

And at last, I think that the government aren't good. They didn't explain to the population in what danger they really are. The whole world is wondering why the Japanese are still so calm. Well, I think that the reason is that they don't know what is really happens. They probably only think that it was another earthquake and that a nuclear central exploited. I think If they would know what really means that for them, they wouldn't be so calm like now.

In conclusion, I think that this drama will affect Japan for a long time. They will lose a lot of Turism, also the population is poorer and there will not be good economy.