the residual heat removal and low-pressure coolant injection system main pumps, and the automatic depressurization systems all failed (most of the emergency core cooling system). Only the steam-powered pump systems (isolation condenser in reactor 1, high-pressure coolant injection and reactor core isolation cooling system in reactors 2 and 3) remained available. Later, as the temperature rose, a system started that used steam-powered pumps and battery-powered valves. According to a report in the New York Times, "... at the start of the crisis Friday, immediately after the shattering earthquake, Fukushima plant officials focused their attention on a damaged storage pool for spent nuclear fuel at the No. 2 reactor at Daiichi, said a nuclear executive who requested anonymity ... The damage prompted the plant's management to divert much of the attention and pumping capacity to that pool, the executive added. The shutdown of the other reactors then proceeded badly, and problems began to cascade." 16:00: The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of Japan (NISA) initiates an emergency headquarters in an attempt to gather information on the 55 nuclear reactors in Japan. There is no report that radiation was detected outside power-plant borders. 18:00: The falling water level in reactor 1 reaches the top of the fuel, and the core temperature starts climbing. 18:18: Operators attempted to start reactor 1's emergency cooling system, but it did not function. 19:03: Prime Minister Naoto Kan declares a nuclear emergency status announced by Yukio Edano, Chief Cabinet officer in Japan. Japanese government officials try to comfort the people of Japan by telling them that the proper procedures are being undertaken. They also announce that no radioactive leaks have been detected. 19:30: The fuel in reactor 1 becomes fully exposed above the water surface, and fuel damage in the central core begins soon after. 21:00: An evacuation order is issued by the government to persons within a radius of from the Fukushima I station. Those within a radius of are told that they can remain in their homes, and carry on with regular activities, until told otherwise. TEPCO announces that the pressure inside reactor unit 1 of Fukushima I is more than twice normal levels. Saturday, 12 March 05:30: Despite the risk of hydrogen (produced from the water in the reactor) igniting after combining with oxygen, and in order to release some of the pressure inside the containment at unit 1, the decision is taken to