Japanese PM urges unity amid crisis

Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan has appealed to all citizens to unite in overcoming what he says is the country’s worst crisis since the Second World War.

Mr Kan said in a televised address today that the nation’s future will be decided by the choices made by each Japanese person, and urged everyone to join in their determination to rebuild the nation following a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Estimates of the death toll from the disaster rose to more than 10,000 in one state alone, as millions of survivors remained without drinking water, electricity and food along the pulverised north-eastern coast.