A

ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes on record slammed Japan’s eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds of people as it swept away ships, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control.

Hour later, the tsunami hit Hawaii but did not cause major damage. Warnings blanketed the Pacific, putting areas on alert as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire US West coast. In northeastern Japan, the area around a nuclear power plant was evacuated after the reactor’s cooling system failed.

Police said 200 to 300 bodies were found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai, the city in Miyagi prefecture, or state, closest to the epicenter. Another 110 were confirmed killed, with 350 people missing. Police also said 544 people were injured.

The 8.9-magnitude offshore quake unleashed a seven-meter tsunami and was followed for hours by more than 50 aftershocks, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 2,100-kilometer stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of kilometers from the epicenter. A large section of Kesennuma, a town of 70,000 people in Miyagi, burned furiously into the night with no apparent hope of being extinguished, public broadcaster NHK said.

“The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan,” Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

A tsunami warning was extended to a number of areas in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and Latin America, including Japan, Russia, Indonesia, New Zealand and Chile. In the Philippines, authorities ordered an evacuation of coastal communities, but no unusual waves were reported.

Thousands fled homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 2 meters high, but waves of only 10 centimeters were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory, either.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene said Friday both the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo and the Indonesian Consulate General in Osaka were still in the dark over the fate of a total estimate of 414 Indonesians in Iwate prefecture, the hardest hit area.

“Communication lines are still not operating properly. Our embassy and consulate general are trying to reach our 414 citizens in Iwate prefecture — 400 kilometers northeast of Tokyo — through the Internet using, among others, emailing groups,” he told The Jakarta Post on Friday evening.

For more information, Indonesian nationals in Japan and families may reach the Indonesian Embassy in Tokyo at +819031324994, the Indonesian Consulate General in Osaka at +81662529827, the ministry’s monitoring room at +62-21-3510409, the ministry’s directorate for protection of Indonesian nationals and legal aid at +62-899-8449342 and the ministry’s directorate for East Asia and Pacific Affairs at +62-821-24469694, the ministry said in a press statement issued on Friday.

It also said that the Indonesian government sent its deepest condolences to the government and people of Japan over, as well as those who have become victim of, the disaster.

Indonesia’s state flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said in a press statement that the airline kept flying despite the disaster.

Japan’s coast guard said it was searching for 80 dock workers on a ship that was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several kilometers inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images on Japanese TV of powerful, debris-filled waves, uncontrolled fires and a ship caught in a massive whirlpool resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.

Large fishing boats and other vessels rode high waves ashore, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged cars bobbed in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.

The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing directions and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the homes, probably because of burst gas pipes.