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Japan raises nuclear alert level Japan raises nuclear alert level
(40 minutes later)
Japan has raised the accident level at a stricken nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international danger scale for atomic accidents. Japan has raised the alert level at a stricken nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale for atomic accidents.
The move places the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site two levels below Ukraine's Chernobyl 1986 disaster. The move places the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site two levels below Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned in Tokyo meanwhile that the battle to stabilise the plant was a race against the clock.The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog warned in Tokyo meanwhile that the battle to stabilise the plant was a race against the clock.
The crisis was triggered by last week's 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami.The crisis was triggered by last week's 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami.
The Japanese nuclear agency's decision to raise the alert level to five classifies the Fukushima situation as an "accident with wider consequences". The Japanese nuclear agency's decision to raise the alert level to five grades the Fukushima situation as an "accident with wider consequences".
It also places the crisis on a par with Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US in 1979.It also places the crisis on a par with Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US in 1979.
Japan's atomic crisis was triggered by last week's natural disaster, which has left more than 16,000 people dead or missing.
According to the latest figures, 6,405 people are confirmed as dead and about 10,200 are listed as missing.
'Race against time'
Further heavy snowfall overnight in the quake zone has brought more misery to survivors and all but ended hopes of finding anyone else alive in the rubble.
On Friday, people across the nation observed a minute's silence at 1446 local time (0546 GMT), exactly a week after the disaster.
Relief workers in the disaster zone bowed their heads and elderly survivors in evacuation centres wept as the country paused to remember.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, arrived in Tokyo and said the Fukushima crisis was a "race against the clock".
"This is not something that just Japan should deal with, and people of the entire world should co-operate with Japan and the people in the disaster areas," said Mr Amano, a Japanese citizen.
He said he would not visit the Fukushima Daiichi site on his current trip to the country.
His four-member team of nuclear experts would start by monitoring radiation in the capital, he said, before moving to the vicinity of the quake-hit facility, reports Kyodo news agency.