Local residents walk on roads covered with mud and debris in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, on March 14, 2011 following the March 11 tsunami. A new explosion at a nuclear plant in nearby Fukushima prefecture hit punch-drunk Japan on March 14 as it raced to avert a reactor meltdown after a quake-tsunami disaster that is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people. AFP PHOTO/Toru YAMANAKA