Japan struggles to deal with crises

Rescue workers used chain saws and pickaxes today to dig out bodies in Japan’s devastated coastal towns, as Asia’s richest nation faced a mounting humanitarian, nuclear and economic crisis in the aftermath of a massive earthquake and tsunami that likely killed thousands.

Millions of people spent a third night without water, food or heating in near-freezing temperatures along the devastated north eastern coast; the containment building of a second nuclear reactor exploded because of hydrogen build-up while the stock market plunged over the likelihood of huge losses by Japanese industries including big names such as Toyota and Honda.