Northern Japan earthquake, aftershocks, kill 3, many more missing
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Northern Japan earthquake, aftershocks, kill 3, many more missing*
14 Jun 2008 09:34:27 GMT
Source: Reuters
KURIHARA, Japan, June 14 (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake rocked rural
northern Japan on Saturday, killing at least three people, injuring more
than 100 and sparking huge landslides that blocked roads and isolated
residents.
The 7.2 magnitude quake struck at 8:43 a.m. (2343 GMT Friday) in Iwate,
a sparsely populated, scenic area around 300 km (190 miles) north of
Tokyo, where buildings also shook.
More than 160 aftershocks rocked the northern area and officials warned
more strong quakes might be in store.
But experts said the energy released by the quake was far smaller than
the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit southwestern China on May 12,
leaving nearly 87,000 people dead or missing.
"There's one whole mountain gone. It's all over the road now," said one
woman in her 50s, who said she and her husband had been en route to a
hot spring resort but had to abandon their car and walk because roads
were blocked by a landslide.
One of the people killed was caught in a landslide, Chief Cabinet
Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters. A second man was hit by a
car after running out of a building and a third was killed by falling
rocks at a dam construction site.
Seven people were trapped in a hot-spring resort inn hit by a landslide
but police had rescued five and were trying to get the other two out,
NHK public TV reported.
NHK said a total of 12 people were missing as aftershocks jolted the
region, hampering rescue efforts.
"The aftershocks are continuing ... so a very careful response is
required," Shinya Izumi, the cabinet minister in charge of disaster
response, told a news conference.
"But we also need to rescue people as quickly as possible. It is a very
tough situation."
Three more were missing at a work site after a landslide in Kurihara,
Kyodo news agency reported, adding that more than 150 people were hurt
throughout the quake-hit region. Four campers including three
non-Japanese, were unreachable, Kyodo said.
REMOTE AREA, SPARSE POPULATION
More than 300 people were cut off in remote areas after landslides
blocked roads, and rescue helicopters were heading their way, media
reports said. TV footage showed huge cracks in some roads, while others
were swamped by landslides.
Experts said casualties could rise as reports came in from isolated
areas but the scope of the quake was far smaller than one that stuck
China a month ago.
"The seismic energy of the China quake was one order of magnitude
greater," Naoshi Hirata, a professor at Tokyo University's Earthquake
Research Institute, told Reuters.
He added the region's sparse population and Japan's strict building
standards had likely limited the impact.
Rail operator JR East said 2,000 were trapped on bullet trains that
stopped between stations due to the quake. Some lines had resumed
service but 1,000 passengers were still waiting on one stranded train,
JR East said.
Water containing a small amount of radiation leaked within a Tokyo
Electric Power Co nuclear power facility in the region, but there was no
leakage outside, a spokesman for Japan's biggest utility said.
Tohoku Electric Power said its nuclear plants at Onagawa and Higashidori
were running as usual. [ID:nT4387]
About 20 people on a bus swept by a landslide 50 metres into a ravine
were rescued by helicopter, media reports said, adding that several were
injured, some seriously.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically
active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's
earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, prompting tough building codes to
try to limit damage.
The government set up an emergency response centre, the Tokyo Fire
Department sent a relief team and the local governor asked for help from
a military disaster relief unit.
"We are doing all that we can," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told
reporters. "The most important thing is to rescue people.
Tohoku Electric Power Co Inc said more than 30,000 people suffered power
cuts but most was restored within hours of the shallow quake. Hundreds
of households were without water.
"It shook for about two minutes," Kazue Hishiya, manager of a hotel in
Iwate prefecture, said by telephone.
"Three television sets fell off shelves, elevators have stopped, and
we've turned off the boiler."
In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the
Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more
than 3,000.
That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city
of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400. (Additional reporting by Chisa
Fujioka, Yoko Kubota, Yuzo Saeki, Chikafumi Hodo, Osamu Tsukimori and
Nathan Layne; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Jerry Norton)