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Major credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Japan's sovereign debt rating by one notch to Aa3.
The ratings agency, which performs international financial analysis on commercial and government entities, cut Japan's government debt rating on Wednesday, blaming the country's large budget deficits for the downgrade, Reuters reported.
The build-up of debt since the 2009 global recession was cited as another reason for the new rating, which concluded a review begun on May 31, putting pressure on the Japanese government to address the country's growing economic woes.
"Several factors make it difficult for Japan to slow the growth of debt-to-GDP and thus drive this rating action," Moody's said in a statement.
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda declined to comment on the Moody's move, but appreciated government efforts, saying, "The smooth sales of Japanese government bonds at recent auctions show that confidence remains unshaken.”
Japan is still struggling with aftermath of the huge quake and subsequent tsunami that hit the country back in March.
The credit rating assesses the credit worthiness of a government's debt issues, a financial indicator to potential investors of debt securities such as bonds.
A new survey shows Japan will likely plunge into recession in the upcoming months, following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and a nuclear crisis in the Asian nation.
After a survey of 11 major private economic institutions, the Nikkei business newspaper reported on Tuesday that Japan's economy is feared to shrink 2.6 percent on the average.
Some economists, however, painted a gloomier picture of the current situation in Japan, predicting a 7.1 percent drop in the disaster-hit country, the Japanese daily said.
It added that no recovery was expected until the July-September quarter.
Apart from the tragic human toll, the triple disaster in Japan has destroyed much of the nation's infrastructures, knocked out power and disrupted the supply chain, forcing many companies and manufacturers to shut down production.
The crisis has also slashed business confidence, reduced exports and discouraged consumer spending in the world's number three economy.
Japan has so far put the cost for last month's earthquake and tsunami, which has officially left 11,938 people dead, at 25 trillion yen ($297 billion).
The estimate does not account for wider issues such as the effects of radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.
On Saturday, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the level of radiation in the seawater near the Fukushima plant has reached more than 4,000 times the legal limit.
Reports indicate that some food products from towns around the epicenter of the nuclear crisis have already been contaminated.
The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has injected 5 trillion yens (USD 61 billion) to calm the country's upset financial markets following Japan's devastating March 11 earthquake.
The BOJ said on Thursday that its total liquidity injection reached 60.6 trillion yen (USD 739 billion) since Monday, Xinhua reported.
The injections come after the devastating temblor, Japan's strongest on record, and the ensuing tsunami on Friday, which collapsed the country's banking system.
The move would possibly decrease the value of yen and increase the country's inflation, analysts said.
The massive quake's death toll has reached 4,314 while at least 9,000 are unaccounted for.
The catastrophe and deepening nuclear crisis, caused at the Fukushima power plant reactors, could result in losses of up to USD 200 billion for the world's third largest economy.
The Japanese government on Wednesday ordered emergency workers to withdraw from a stricken nuclear plant amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors.
The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake.
Meanwhile, Japanese stocks suffered their worst two-day rout since the 1987 crash on Monday and Tuesday, losing USD 626 billion in value, before rebounding 5.7 percent on Wednesday.
Up to 26 people are reported to have been killed after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Japan, triggering a 10-metre-high tsunami along parts of the country's northeastern coastline.
The massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck Japan on Friday, sweeping away cars, boats, homes and people as widespread fires burned out of control.
Japan's NHK television reported many injuries and showed pictures of major tsunami damage in the north, with buildings being inundated by waves of water in Onahama city in Fukushima prefecture.
Japan's meteorological agency said 26 people have been confirmed dead in the aftermath of the quake and tsunami, and 44 fires have broken out across the country.
The death toll included three people who were reportedly crushed to death when their houses collapsed in Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of the capital, Tokyo.
News of the death toll came amid a warning that another strong quake could be imminent on the northeast Honshu island, Japan's main island.
Prime minister's address
Japan's prime minister addressed the nation after the quake, saying major damage had been done but that help is on the way.
In a televised address on Friday, Naoto Kan said the government was making "every effort possible" to minimise damage.
"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," he said. "Some of the nuclear power plants in the region have automatically shut down, but there is no leakage of radioactive materials to the environment."
His words came amid the issuing of a tsunami warning for much of the Pacific region, following a wave set off by the Japan quake that is currently higher than some Pacific islands, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
"Our biggest concern is the Asia and Pacific region, where developing countries are far more vulnerable to this type of
unfolding disaster. The tsunami is a major threat," Paul Conneally, spokesman for the federation, the world's biggest
disaster relief network, told the Reuters news agency in Geneva.
"At the moment, it is higher than some islands and could go right over them," he said.
Houses washed away
Shortly after the quake struck, a 10-metre tsunami hit Sendai airport in the north-east. Television footage showed people standing on the roof of the terminal building.
The tsunami roared over embankments in Sendai city, washing cars, houses and farm equipment inland before reversing directions and carrying them out to sea. Flames shot from some of the houses, probably because of burst gas pipes.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii has widened its tsunami warning to cover most of the Pacific Ocean, including Russia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific coast of South America.
"An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicentre within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours," the centre said in a statement.
It did not include North America in the warning but the Tsunami Warning Centre in Alaska issued a tsunami watch for the entire western coast of the United States and Canada from the Mexican border to Chignik Bay in Alaska.
Al Jazeera's Marga Ortigas, reporting from Manila in the Philippines, said the military there had been ordered to help evacuate areas at risk on the east coast.
High alert
Meanwhile, a huge fire engulfed an oil refinery in Iichihara near Tokyo, where four million homes were said to be without electricity. Plumes of smoke rose from at least 10 locations in city.
Military airplanes were flying over the worst-affected areas to assess the need for rescue efforts and 30 international search and rescue teams were prepared to go to Japan to provide assistance following the quake, the United Nations said.
Yukiko Shimahara, a Japanese journalist, told Al Jazeera that the airports and trains in Tokyo have been shut down following the quake.
The quake that struck at 2:46pm was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including a 7.4-magnitude one about 30 minutes later.
Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan, reporting from Beijing, said tremors were felt as far away as the Chinese capital.
Several earthquakes have hit the region in recent days, including a 7.2-magnitude quake on Wednesday.
"Japan has been on high alert since the earthquake on Wednesday," Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett, following developments from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, said.
"Japan is very well equipped to deal both with the initial tremors caused by an earthquake: buildings are systematically built with allowances for sway so that they are less likely to fall down. Also coastal cities have long had tsunami protection measures in place."
Friday's quake struck at a depth of 24 kilometres, about 125 kilometres off the eastern coast, the country's meteorological agency said.
The quake's magnitude surpasses the 7.9 Great Kanto quake of 1923, which killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.
Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire"- an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones that stretches around the Pacific Rim and where about 90 per cent of the world's quakes occur.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.2 has hit southwestern Pakistan, causing three deaths, a number of injuries to a number of locals, and damage to structures.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake struck at 1:23 a.m. local time on Wednesday (2023 GMT on Tuesday), 55 kilometers (34 miles) west of Dalbandin, Balochistan province and at a depth of 83 kilometers (52 miles), Reuters reported.
Local media have reported three deaths so far.
In Dalbandin, several people were injured when the roofs of their houses collapsed, according to provincial Transport Minister Amanullah Notizai.
A three-story building has also been damaged in the port city of Karachi.
In the Indian border province of Rajasthan, cracks appeared in the walls of some rural dwellings.
Tremors were also felt as far away as Dubai and New Delhi.
US seismologist Don Blakeman said the earthquake depth was revised to be deeper than originally thought -- potentially limiting the effects. The initial USGS report said the quake was quite shallow, with a depth of 6.3 miles (10 kilometers).
Its epicenter was in a remote area 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the Baluchistan capital Quetta, not far from the Afghan border, said chief Pakistani meteorologist Arif Mahmood.
There have been no reports of major damage in Dalbandin, Karan, and Quetta, three towns that are closest to the quake's epicenter.
Local TV has reported that the quake was felt throughout Punjab, Sindh, and Balochistan provinces in Pakistan, as well as in parts of Iran and India.
Many people in the country's largest city, Karachi, rushed out into the streets in panic after the quake.
The USGS initially reported the quake had a magnitude of 7.4. Quakes of 7.0 to 7.9 are classified as major; anything over 8.0 is classified as great.
The Pacific Tsunami Centre announced that the earthquake had not caused a tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
Earthquakes often rattle the region. A magnitude 7.6 quake, which occurred on October 8, 2005, killed about 80,000 people in northwestern Pakistan and Kashmir and left more than 3 million homeless.
A strong earthquake has hit Japan's southern Okinawa island, prompting a tsunami warning for waves of up to two metres in some areas to be issued, but later withdrawn.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency said that the 6.9 quake occurred off the coast of the island of Okinawa at a depth of 10km at 5.31am on Saturday (2031 GMT on Friday).
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake had a 7.3 magnitude.
Noritomi Kikuzato, an Okinawa prefectural police official, said there were no reports of injuries or major damage.
Seiboku Sueyoshi, an official in Naha city, southern Okinawa, said: "First there was a strong vertical shake, then sideways. The strong quake lasted for about 10 seconds."
Small waves of around 10cms were recorded in southern areas of Okinawa island, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said, adding that additional minor surges of the sea level may still be seen near the island.
'Big one' feared
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas.
The country accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
Geologists warn that Japan is overdue for a massive and potentially devastating earthquake.
They point to an 87 per cent chance that the "Big One" - a magnitude-eight earthquake or worse - will strike the greater Tokyo region, home to around 35 million people, within the next 30 years.
The last time a massive earthquake struck Tokyo was in 1923, when the Great Kanto Earthquake claimed more than 140,000 lives, many of them in fires.
In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000.
That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.
A massive magnitude earthquake has struck Chile, producing powerful aftershocks and causing the deaths of at least 52 people.
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck early on Saturday near the city of Concepcion in Chile, triggering a tsunami.
The earthquake struck 92km northeast of Concepcion at a depth of 63km at 3:34am local time (06:43 GMT) and 320km southwest of Santiago.
The quake, which lasted for one minute, shook buildings and caused blackouts in as far away as parts of the capital, Santiago.
Its magnitude was reported at 8.3 and 8.5, then fixed by the US Geological Survey (USGS) at 8.8, the country's largest in 25 years. The quake was felt in Argentina as well.
The US centre also recorded eight aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.9 magnitude at 08:01 GMT.
Panic-stricken people swarmed the streets of Santiago, more than 320km north of the epicentre, a Reuters witness reported.
'State of catastrophe'
Michelle Bachelet, the outgoing president, has declared a "state of catastrophe" and warned that more deaths were possible.
"I want to call on all the people of Chile to remain calm ... There have been some aftershocks, but so far our national organisations are still up and running," she said.
A tsunami warning was issued for Chile and Peru by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, and a less-urgent tsunami watch was issued for Ecuador, Colombia, Antarctica, Panama and Costa Rica.
"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant coasts," the centre said.
The US west coast tsunami warning centre said it did not expect a tsunami along the west of the US or Canada but was continuing to monitor the situation.
A national emergency official told local radio the Chilean government was evaluating damage in and around Concepcion.
Phone lines were either down or busy, making confirmation of damage difficult elsewhere, especially further south towards the epicentre.
According to a 2002 census, Concepcion is one of the largest cities in Chile with a population of around 670,000.
Tsunami threat
Kevin McCue, president of the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society, told Al Jazeera: "An earthquake of this size occurs one every ten years. This quake would have ruptured the earth's surface for about 800km, which is a very long fault line to produce a tsunami.
"I'm surprised it produced such a small tsunami as a result. But everyone is still on alert right across the Pacific."
Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the USGS National Earthquake Information Centre, told Al Jazeera an earthquake of this size has the potential to devastate the region.
"This is a significant earthquake with the force to cause significant damage in this region. It is a major seismic event," he said.
In 1960, Chile was hit by the world's biggest earthquake since records dating back to 1900, USGS data shows.
The 9.5 magnitude quake devastated the south-central city of Valdivia, killing 1,655 people and sending a tsunami which battered Easter Island 3,700km off Chile's Pacific seaboard and continued as far as Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines.
South Africa's Closing Argument Against Israel for Genocide at the ICJ
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