Latest from Reuters: 'Japan faced a potential catastrophe on Tuesday'

Catastrophe' and 'Crisis' seems to be the key words being used to describe the situation in Japan. CNN's chyron reads 'Japan's Nuclear Crisis Deepens.' Latest update from Reuters:

Japan faced a potential catastrophe on Tuesday after a quake-crippled nuclear power plant exploded and sent low levels of radiation floating toward Tokyo, prompting some people to flee the capital and others to stock up on essential supplies.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged people within 30 km (18 miles) of the facility north of Tokyo -- a population of 140,000 -- to remain indoors amid the world's most serious nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

Around eight hours after the explosions, the U.N. weather agency said winds were dispersing radioactive material over the Pacific Ocean, away from Japan and other Asian countries. The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization added that weather conditions could change.

You know, this sounds like something out of the 70s or 80s. Naively, I assumed nuclear power plant operators and nations that house them would have thought through contingencies like earthquakes and tsunamis.

And, as one might expect, the economic impacts continue to grow. Japan is the the third largest economy in the world -- after the U.S. and China:

As concern about the crippling economic impact of the nuclear and earthquake disasters mounted, Japanese stocks fell as much as 14 percent before ending down 9.5 percent, compounding a slide of 7.5 percent the day before. The two-day fall has wiped some $620 billion off the market.