Looks to me like they were right, the damage was to stuff outside the reactor which was mostly superficial.
From Wikipedia:
"An explosion was heard after 06:14 JST on 15 March in unit 2, possibly damaging the pressure-suppression system, which is at the bottom part of the containment vessel."
"On 30 March, Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (JNISA) reiterated concerns about a possible unit 2 breach at either the suppression pool, or the reactor vessel."
"On 27 March, TEPCO reported measurements of very high radiation levels of over 1000 mSv/h in the basement of the unit 2 turbine building"
And the money quote: (source)
"On April 11, the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency officially raised the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi to Level 7 on the INES scale. This makes Fukushima the second Level 7 "major accident" in the history of the nuclear industry."