Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30km of the facility north of Tokyo to remain indoors, underscoring the dramatic worsening of Japan’s nuclear crisis, the world’s most serious since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

“There has been a fire at the No 4 reactor and radiation levels in the surrounding area have heightened significantly. The possibility of further radioactive leakage is heightening,” a grim-faced Kan said in an address to the nation.

“We are making every effort to prevent the leak from spreading. I know that people are very worried but I would like to ask you to act calmly.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said,

“It is likely that the level of radiation increased sharply due to a fire at Unit 4. Now we are talking about levels that can damage human health.

“These are readings taken near the area where we believe the releases are happening. Far away, the levels should be lower,” he said.

“Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight. Don’t turn on ventilators. Please hang your laundry indoors,” he said.

“These are figures that potentially affect health. There is no mistake about that,” he said.

The French embassy in Tokyo warned in an 0100 GMT advisory that a low level of radioactive wind could reach the capital – 240km south of the plant – in about 10 hours.

Winds over the facility are blowing slowly in a southwesterly direction that includes Tokyo but will shift westerly later on Tuesday, a weather official said.

Kyodo news agency said radiation levels nine times normal levels had been briefly detected in Kanagawa near Tokyo, but it quotes the metropolitan government that only “minute levels” were found in the capital itself.

There have been a total of four explosions at the plant since it was damaged in last Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami. The most recent were blasts at reactors No 2 and No 4 earlier on Tuesday.

Authorities had previously been trying to prevent meltdowns in the Fukishima Daiichi complex’s nuclear reactors by flooding the chambers with sea water to cool the reactors down.

Panic swept Tokyo on Tuesday around the earthquake-hit nuclear power plant, causing some residents to leave the capital and others to stock up on food and supplies.

Several embassies advised staff and citizens to leave affected areas. Tourists cut short vacations and multinational companies either urged staff to leave or said they were considering plans to move outside the city.

The Tokyo office of Michael Page International, a British recruitment agency, was closing for the week. “I am leaving for Singapore tomorrow and will work from our Singapore office,” said one employee.

In one sign of the panic, Don Quixote, a multistorey, 24-hour general store in Tokyo’s Roppongi district, was sold out of radios, flashlights, candles, fuel cans and sleeping bags on Tuesday as a Reuters reported visited the shop.

Some international journalists covering the disaster from the worst-hit region around the northeastern city of Sendai were pulling out.

But many Japanese were cancelling trips and staying put, saying now is not the time to leave home.

The full extent of the destruction from last Friday’s massive quake and tsunami that followed it was still becoming clear, as rescuers combed through the region north of Tokyo where officials say at least 10 000 people were killed.

“It’s a scene from hell, absolutely nightmarish,” said Patrick Fuller of the International Red Cross Federation from the northeastern coastal town of Otsuchi.

Kan has said Japan is facing its worst crisis since World War Two and, with the financial costs estimated at up to $180 billion, analysts said it could tip the world’s third-biggest economy back into recession.

The US Geological Survey upgraded the quake to magnitude 9.0, from 8.9, making it the world’s fourth most powerful since 1900.

Car makers, shipbuilders and technology companies worldwide scrambled for supplies after the disaster shut factories in Japan and disrupted the global manufacturing chain.

The fear at the Fukushima plant is of a major radiation leak after the quake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems.

Jiji news agency said the first explosion on Tuesday damaged the roof and steam was rising from the complex. Some workers were also told to leave the plant, a development one expert had warned beforehand could signal a worsening of the crisis.

The worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986 has drawn criticism that authorities were ill-prepared and revived debate in many countries about the safety of atomic power.

“You’re above Three Mile Island but you’re nowhere near a Chernobyl … Chernobyl there was no impediment to release, it just blew everything out into the atmosphere,” said Murray Jennex, professor at San Diego State University in California.

“You’ve still got a big chunk of the containment there holding most of it in.”

Switzerland put on hold some approvals for nuclear power plants and Germany said it was scrapping a plan to extend the life of its nuclear power stations. The White House said US President Barack Obama remained committed to nuclear energy.

Whilst the Fukuskima plant’s No 1 and No 3 reactors both suffered partial fuel rod meltdowns, operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) had earlier said the No 2 reactor was now the biggest concern.

A sudden drop in cooling water levels when a pump ran out of fuel had fully exposed the fuel rods for a time, an official said. This could lead to the rods melting down and a possible radioactive leak.

TEPCO had resumed pumping sea water into the reactor early on Tuesday.

US warships and planes helping with relief efforts moved away from the coast temporarily because of low-level radiation. The US Seventh Fleet described the move as precautionary.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines said they would test Japanese food imports for radiation.

About 850 000 households in the north were still without electricity in near-freezing weather, Tohuku Electric Power Co. said, and the government said at least 1.5 million households lack running water. Tens of thousands of people were missing.

“The situation here is just beyond belief, almost everything has been flattened,” said the Red Cross’s Fuller in Otsuchi, a town all-but obliterated. “The government is saying that 9 500 people, more than half of the population, could have died and I do fear the worst.”

Whole villages and towns have been wiped off the map by Friday’s wall of water, triggering an international humanitarian effort of epic proportions.

“When the tsunami struck, I was trying to evacuate people. I looked back, and then it was like the computer graphics scene I’ve seen from the movie Armageddon. I thought it was a dream . it was really like the end of the world,” said Tsutomu Sato, 46, in Rikuzantakata, a town on the northeast coast. – Reuters, Sapa-AP

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