In Asia, Typhoon Morakot has caused widespread destruction in several countries.The typhoon dumped as much as 80 inches of rain in parts of Taiwan, where 400 or more people were reported buried and are unaccounted for after a mudslide in one village Sunday morning. In China, hundreds of villages and towns were flooded and more than 2,000 houses collapsed. Almost one million people were evacuated. In the Phillippines, the storm killed at least 22 people over the weekend.
Meanwhile, The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami watch for five countries after a massive 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit the Indian Ocean, though the warning was later lifted.
A strong earthquake rocked central Japan on Tuesday, injuring more than 100 people, triggering a landslide and shutting down a nuclear power plant and bullet trains. The magnitude 6.4 tremor shook buildings, threw objects from shelves and jolted people from their sleep in and around Tokyo. See Video.
