Our love and hope are yours!
Pray for Indonesia, Phill, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa
Nicaragua, Chille, Peru.
----------
----------
Live coverage from BBC News
Japan's most powerful earthquake since records began has struck the north-east coast, triggering a massive tsunami.
Cars, ships and buildings were swept away by a wall of water after the 8.9-magnitude quake, which struck about 400km (250 miles) north-east of Tokyo.
A state of emergency has been declared at a nuclear power plant but officials said there were no radiation leaks.
The death toll is unclear, but police say 200 to 300 bodies have been found in the port city of Sendai.
At least 90 other people are reported to have died, and many more are unaccounted for.
The tremor, measured at 8.9 by the US Geological Survey, hit at 1446 local time (0546 GMT) at a depth of about 24km.
A tsunami warning was extended across the Pacific to North and South America.
The first waves have rolled thousands of miles to reach Hawaii, but were not expected to cause major damage.
The Red Cross in Geneva warned the waves could be higher than some Pacific islands.
Coastal areas in the Philippines, and other parts of the Pacific were evacuated ahead of the tsunami's expected arrival.
New Zealand downgraded its alert to a marine threat, meaning strong and unusual currents were expected.
'Train missing'Strong waves hit Japan's Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, officials said, damaging dozens of coastal communities.
Kyodo news agency said a 10-metre wave (33ft) struck Sendai, which is in Miyagi.
Japan's NHK television showed a massive surge of debris-filled water sweeping away buildings, cars and ships and reaching far inland.
Motorists could be seen trying to speed away from the wall of water.
Farmland around Sendai was submerged and the waves pushed cars across the runway of the city's airport. Fires broke out in the city's centre.
In other developments:
- A passenger train was missing in one coastal area, and a ship carrying 100 people was swept away, police have told Japanese media
- Fire is engulfing swathes of coastland, including homes and buildings, at Kesennuma city in Miyagi prefecture
- A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture, with 100-ft (30m) flames roaring into the sky
- There were reports of about 20 people injured in Tokyo after the roof of a hall collapsed on to a graduation ceremony
Thousands of people are being evacuated from near the Fukushima power plant, where a state of emergency has been declared. The cooling system failed in one of its reactors when it shut down automatically because of the earthquake.
In a televised address, he extended his sympathy to the victims of the disaster and said an emergency response headquarters had been set up.
The UN's nuclear agency said four nuclear power plants had shut down safely.
In Iwate prefecture, also near the epicentre, an official said it was difficult to gauge the extent of the destruction.
"Roads were badly damaged and cut off as the tsunami washed away debris, cars and many other things," said Hiroshi Sato, a disaster management official in Iwate.
Residents and workers in Tokyo rushed out of apartment buildings and office blocks and gathered in parks and open spaces as aftershocks continued to hit.
Many people in the Japanese capital said they had never felt such a powerful earthquake.
In central Tokyo, Jeffrey Balanag said he was stuck in his office in the Shiodome Sumitomo building because the elevators had stopped working.
"We're almost seasick from the constant rolling of the building," he told the BBC.
Bullet train services to northern Japan were halted and rapid transit in Tokyo was suspended, stranding many workers in the city centre.
About four million homes in and around Tokyo suffered power outages.
Are you in Japan? Have you been affected by the earthquake? Send us your comments using the form below:
Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International).
