Second explosion at Japanese nuclear power plant

There was a second explosion Monday (March 14th) at a damaged nuclear plant in Japan as officials there continued to struggle to prevent a disastrous possible meltdown in the wake of Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake off the northeast coast of the country and the powerful tsunami it spawned. 

The containment building of a second reactor at the Fukushima Da-ichi power plant exploded today because of hydrogen buildup, just as the containment building of a first one had on Saturday, but Japanese officials said the inner containment vessel in both reactors that hold the nuclear fuel rods were still intact. 

At least one nuclear reactor at another power plant has also been damaged.

Rescue workers, aided by teams from at least a dozen countries, have begun to dig out bodies in Japan's devastated northeastern coastal towns. 

More than 1,800 people have been confirmed dead, but the estimate of those killed is believed to be at least 10,000. The Japanese government has sent 100,000 troops to lead the aid effort, as well as water, food, gasoline and blankets, and some 70 countries have offered assistance. 
But many areas are still unreachable, and millions of people have now gone since Friday with little water or food and no heat or electricity. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters this is the country's most severe crisis since the end of World War Two.

Meanwhile, Japan's central bank on Monday injected a record $183.8 billion into money markets as the Tokyo stock market plummeted on the first business day since the quake and tsunami struck. The disaster is sure to deal a huge blow to Japan's already fragile economy.