The National Police Agency said Thursday that Friday's catastrophic quake and ensuing tsunami have left 4,314 people dead and 8,606 others unaccounted for in Japan by 8:00 a.m. local time (2300 GMT Wednesday).

据日本时事社17日报道，日本警察厅当天宣布，截至当天8时，11日日本东北部海域发生的强震及其引发的海啸已确认造成4314人死亡，8606人失踪。



Major suppliers of pills that provide protection from radiation say they're out of stock due to panic buying, even though experts say that the Japanese nuclear catastrophe poses no health threat to Americans.
虽然专家表示日本核辐射不会影响美国民众健康，但防辐射药物主要供应商表示，由于恐慌购买，药品已经断货。


Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) had reported early on Monday that it would schedule rolling blackouts in Tokyo and surrounding cities to conserve energy amid the crisis at nuclear power plants in the earthquake-affected areas.
东京电力公司周一宣布，计划在东京和周边城市实行轮流停电，此举是为了在地震灾区核电站危机期间节省能源。
在上面的报道中，rolling blackout就是“轮流停电”，也有报道用rolling power cuts来表示，blackout指的是“停电”，相近的表达还有power outage和power failure（断电），不过power failure多指因电力设备故障引起的“断电”。在能源紧缺时，有些地区还会采取power brownout（限电）措施。

此次日本地震导致nuclear power plant（核电站）机组发生爆炸，引发了人们对nuclear leakage（核泄漏）的担忧，各国政府也开始重新评定nuclear safety（核安全）状况。