Search and rescue teams come to Japan's aid
Last Updated 2:05 p.m. ET
Aid is pouring in to disaster-ravaged Japan from all over the world, including search and rescue teams to help with locating survivors still trapped in the debris from last Friday's earthquake and tsunami.
Japanese media reports that 94 countries and 9 United Nations agencies have committed to relief assistance in Japan, and doctors, search and rescue teams, and other aid has been dispatched to Japan's stricken northeast region.
It is one of the most complex and enormous relief efforts in memory, says CBS News correspondent Lucy Craft.
The U.S. has established "Operation Tomodachi (friends)" and has sent a rescue team of 150 to the country.
U.S. military helicopters have been flying in relief supplies from Atsugi Naval Air Station (located 20 miles outside Tokyo) and from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.
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Reporting from Tokyo, Craft said close to a half-million victims of Friday's disaster are in shelters right now, and about 10,000 victims have been rescued. But tens of thousands more are still awaiting help.
Dr. Malcolm Russell, a member of a British search and rescue team, told the BBC it was imperative that rescue teams get there quickly: "The longer time goes on, the less likely it is we'll find survivors."
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Francis Markus of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, characterized current efforts as search & rescue and recovery efforts running concurrently, with evacuees requiring relief supplies and medical care.
He told CBS' "The Early Show" that search and rescue operations are still going on in a very intensive phase. "That is obviously a priority at the moment," Markus told anchor Erica Hill. "Beyond that, also, over the next few days, we're going to see the major priorities are drinking water, food, sanitation, blankets, things like that.
"Obviously, in the longer term we will have to look towards recovery. But now we don't even have a clear idea of how many people have lost their lives, and how many people will end up missing in total."
Examples of lives saved brought hope for others this weekend: A man was rescued after two days at sea, clinging to a piece of his roof. Three others were saved after being trapped in a car for 20 hours.
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The U.S. nuclear powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan arrived off the coast. It's the first time Japan and the U.S. have joined forces in such a large-scale rescue on Japanese soil.
The problems with the Fukushima nuclear power reactor (which was a big source of electrical supply to Japan) has led to rolling power outages, which Craft said is unprecedented in the nation's history. Businesses and individuals are being asked to conserve power.
As the prime minister said the other day, it's almost like a state of war.
With Japan's energy crunch growing increasingly dire, Russia has sent troops and promised extra shipments of liquefied natural gas.
Japan's self-defense forces have doubled their troop deployments to a record 100,000. They are overwhelmed by the vast area of damage and the danger of trying to access areas rendered doubly unstable by the quakes and tsunamis.
The entire northeastern Japanese coast is affected. The president of the Japanese Red Cross has said the affected areas are the worst he's ever seen, and looked like cities bombed at the end of the Second World War.
With survivors hanging on for a third day, and frigid weather closing in, the task before rescuers seems all the more daunting.
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