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Like all huge events, some of the early reports on the Japanese earthquake and the resulting fall out have proven to be inaccurate. In some cases this is good (it’s possible the widely-reported figure of 88,000 missing might be too high) while in the case of America’s west coast, it may not be. This morning, the BBC quoted White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley who said the fact that the waves passed through Hawaii without serious damage was “encouraging” for the rest of the US. Unfortunately, it appears that Oregon’s coasts have been hit quite hard by the reverberations from, as Fox News’ Shepard Smith put it, “an earthquake half a world away.”

At the top of his hastily-scheduled news conference on energy policy, President Obama delivered remarks on the tragic, still-unfolding earthquake in Japan. He spoke about how the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the people of Japan, and the steps that are being taken to protect American territories affected by tsunami waves that originated from the quake.

Just a few hours ago, Japan was hit with an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, one of the largest in the country’s recorded history. It struck the northeast coast at 2:46 pm local time (12:46 am EST). 250 miles away in Tokyo, the BBC’s Roland Buerk reported that being on the street was like “walking across the deck of a ship at sea.” Soon after, the earthquake caused a deadly tsunami that is affecting areas as widespread as Russia and the western coasts of North and South America. Below are some of the many reports from the destruction.

Fox News, 3:28pmET:
There is a potentially tragic story coming out of American Samoa right now, as reports are coming in of a tsunami hitting the region after a 7.9 earthquake. All the cable news networks have been covering the story, with increased frequency as more news comes in. But sometimes, even in serious stories, the lower third’s raise eyebrows.