Japanese officials are urging the public to limit their electricity consumption in a bid to stave off the need for lengthy rolling blackouts.

Nearly two million Japanese are without power, three days after the devastating earthquake struck off the country's eastern coast.

The quake and its accompanying tsunami wreaked havoc on the country's power grid, downing transmission lines and rendering at least three nuclear reactors inoperable.

On Monday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged citizens to limit demands on the power grid, by turning off as many electric appliances as they can in their homes, according to remarks reported by Japan's NHK broadcaster.

The country's Kyodo News Agency reported that blackouts were supposed to begin on Monday morning, but were not immediately put into effect as system demand was not as strong as had been expected. Instead, they were due to be implemented in various parts of Japan in the late afternoon.

Many regional train lines were shut down or working on a limited schedule to limit demands on the power system on Monday.

With files from The Associated Press