A magnitude-5.4 earthquake has rattled central Japan and at least seven people are hurt.

President Akio Toyoda promised shareholders a revived Toyota despite the production disruptions from the earthquake and tsunami that decimated north eastern Japan on March 11, and first offered his prayers for those killed.

Car production in Japan has plunged 60.1% in April from the previous year after the March earthquake and tsunami destroyed key parts suppliers in north eastern Japan.

Honda workers are taking 14 additional days off during June through August because of production reductions caused by parts shortages, but will make up for those days later in the year.

Toyota Motor Corp said its car production in Japan plummeted 62.7% in March due to a parts supply crunch following the earthquake and tsunami.

A strong aftershock ripped through north eastern Japan, killing two, injuring dozens and piling misery on a region still buried under the rubble of last month’s devastating tsunami.

Officials are racing to restore electricity to Japan’s leaking nuclear plant, but getting the power flowing will hardly be the end of their battle: with its mangled machinery and partly melted reactor cores, bringing the complex under control is a monstrous job.

Japan may need five years to rebuild after the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami which have caused up to $235bn US dollars of damage, the World Bank said today.

The second hydrogen explosion in three days rocked Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant today, sending a massive column of smoke into the air and wounding six workers.

The Radiological Institute of Ireland (RPII) has confirmed that the potential for the explosion at the nuclear power plant in north eastern Japan this morning to have implications in Ireland is "remote".