The tension mounts 

THE risk of a nuclear accident at a huge power plant in disaster-strewn north-eastern Japan has risen for a second day on March 13^th. This time it involves a type of fuel known as Mox (mixed-oxide) that is considered highly experimental. The government, which is under huge pressure to deal with the tragedy created by Friday’s earthquake, is also struggling to prevent panic over the potential meltdown of a second nuclear reactor. With what looked like tears in his eyes, Naoto Kan, the prime minister, said today that Japan was facing its worst crisis since the second world war and he urged its citizens to pull together.

As if that were not enough, Japan’s seismologists say there is a high risk of more big aftershocks in the coming days. In the areas worst hit by the quake, hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes, and food and blankets are scare.