Liu was able to speak, but it was a dangerous and delicate task to free him from underneath the tottering structure, which could tumble at any moment.

NPR: Search for Victims Turns Up a Quake Survivor

Tuesday's explosion at the No. 2 reactor in the Fukushima complex, 150 miles north of Tokyo, for the first time raised the possibility that the key containment structure of the unit, which protects the reactor vessel and keeps dangerous radioactive materials from leaking out, had been damaged.

WSJ: Japan's Nuclear Crisis Escalates

And if there is an oddity about this potential debacle, it is that the Department of Health and local authorities did not look more closely at the shaky structure of the private care-home industry before facilitating its explosive and dangerous growth by channelling hundreds of millions of pounds in its direction.

BBC: NHP controls fate of Southern Cross