TOKYO – The strongest earthquake ever to hit Japan yesterday unleashed a terrifying 10-meter tsunami that claimed hundreds of lives, with a nuclear plant and petrochemical complex among multiple sites set ablaze.

The monster wall of water generated by the 8.9-magnitude quake – the seventh biggest in history – pulverized the northeastern city of Sendai, where police reportedly said that 200-300 bodies had been found on the coast.

The 10-meter (33-foot) wave of black water sent shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through the streets of Sendai and across open farmland, while a tidal wave of debris-littered mud destroyed everything in its path.

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday called for prayers after a devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan yesterday afternoon killing hundreds of people and triggering tsunami alerts across the Pacific, including the Philippines.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council late last night lifted a tsunami alert over 19 provinces of the Philippines after only small waves hit the country's Pacific seaboard, presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang said.

Bartolome Bautista, deputy director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said the tsunami alert was over, after the country’s east coast was hit with waves not exceeding one meter.

The police yesterday afternoon filed charges for four counts of multiple murder and one count of attempted murder against former barangay captain Noel Ayalin, who is still at-large, for a bloodbath in Kapitan Ramon, Silay City, Supt. Remus Zacharias Canieso said.

The five charges were filed before the Silay City Prosecutor’s Office, while three more cases for frustrated murder will be filed against Ayalin later, Canieso, head of the Task Force created investigate the killing, said.

Ayalin was charged with four counts of murder for killing SK chair Imee Occeña, 16, and  barangay councilors Luzviminda Cotamen, 45, Freddie Juno, 58, and Pedrito Orocio, 52, as they were about to start their barangay council meeting in Kapitan Ramon Sunday morning.