A 8.9-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated much of Japan, with staggering death-tolls and estimates of $100 billion in property damage. As one might expect, Japan's auto industry has been and will be heavily affected by the nationwide disaster. Power outages have brought plants to a halt, and the Nikkei, Japan's stock market, has taken notice.

Japan's major automakers have taken substantial losses in the aftermath of the quake, with most manufacturers faring worse than the market's overall drop of 6.2 percent. Mitsubishi had the roughest go of all automakers with a nine percent decline, followed by Isuzu at 8.9 percent, Nissan (8.5 percent), Toyota (7.2 percent) and Honda 3.8 percent). But while automaker stocks took a major hit, construction companies are on the rise, led by Kajima Corp., up 37.2 percent.

While the Japanese auto industry took a beating on the stock market Monday, the real life and death struggles remain a much larger issue. If you're interested in donating to help those affected by the disaster, click here.


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