The worst physical damage from the earthquake, which caused skyscrapers over a hundred miles away in Tokyo to sway dangerously, came from tsunami floodwaters shortly after the earthquake struck on Friday afternoon.

Sony, for example, spent Saturday airlifting emergency supplies by helicopter to hundreds of employees stuck at a Blu-ray disc factory in Miyagi prefecture, Japan.

The tsunami struck just after 1,000 workers at the factory moved to the second floor, stranding them there overnight. The Miyagi facility is one of six plants Sony shuttered after the earthquake, but the only one the company believes sustained extensive damage.

Sony "has not suffered major damage except for that (Miyagi) factory," said George Boyd, a Sony representative, though he added that it's hard to judge the overall impact of the earthquake so soon. Some of Sony's plants, including a battery facility and a chip factory, remain down due to the power outages.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, which covers Tokyo and a number of other areas east of Japan's capital, has said residents should expect power shortages because the earthquake and resulting tsunami damaged some power stations and caused others to shut down.