JAPAN – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  From CNN:

Sendai, Japan (CNN) -- In a nation already besieged with grief over mounting casualties, fears of possible radiation and the threat of more earthquakes, the nightmare grew for Japanese residents Monday as thousands of bodies reportedly surfaced and a government official confirmed another explosion at a nuclear reactor building.
The official death toll reached 1,833 on Monday. But the number did not take into account the 2,000 bodies that Japan's Kyodo News said had been found in the hard-hit Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's northeast coast.

If confirmed, the discovery would be the largest yet of victims from the 8.9-magnitude quake and devastating tsunami that hit Japan four days ago.

At least 2,369 people were missing on Monday, the National Police Agency said, and the number of dead is expected to go up as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas.

Meanwhile, a second explosion in two days occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, officials said. The blast took place in the facility's No. 3 reactor building on Monday morning and injured 11. Hours later, the plant's No. 2 reactor lost its cooling capabilities.

COMMENT:  The Western press is obsessing over the nuclear issue, and there has been some radiation release from the failing nuclear plants.  However, thus far it has been very small.  The reactors in question are older models, obsolete by today's standards.  If radiation leakage can be kept at the level we've seen, the tragedy might well prove that nuclear plants, even ancient ones, can withstand the worst that nature can dish out.  But we want to be careful about judgments at this time, as the nuclear story is not over.

What you'll be reading about in coming days, in addition to the human tragedy, is the economic impact.  Many of Japan's leading companies, led by the auto companies, are shut down.  The nation faces a vast rebuilding bill, and will be spending more of its money at home.  Our economy here can be impacted.  Both our interest rates and employment pictures might be changed.

But this is first and foremost a human tragedy.  The death toll, though horrible, could have been much worse if the quake had struck at the heart of Japan, rather than in the less-populated northern region.  And Japan is a modern, efficient society that refuses to play the victim in a catastrophe like this, and gets right to work.

We will be watching this by the hour.

March 14, 2011