Lethal landslides after quake
Rescuers scrabbled through mud for survivors on Thursday after a powerful earthquake sent hillsides crashing down onto homes in Japan, killing at least nine people and leaving dozens missing.
As many as 30 people are feared buried beneath the earth and rubble of multiple, large-scale landslides that struck sparsely populated countryside on the northern island of Hokkaido after a 6.6magnitude earthquake.
Aerial footage showed wrecked farm buildings at the bottom of a hill as rescue helicopters whirred overhead in a region already affected by the edge of a strong typhoon that ravaged parts of Japan earlier in the week.
The quake left almost threemillion people without power after damage to a major thermal plant supplying the region, with industry minister Hiroshige Seko saying it could take at least a week for supply to be restored.
Long queues formed outside petrol stations and supermarkets as residents dug in and authorities warned that further quakes could be on the way.
Kazuo Kibayashi, an official in hard-hit Abira town, said: “There was a sudden, extreme jolt. I felt it went sideways, not up-and-down, for about two to three minutes.
“It stopped, before shaking started again. I felt it come in two waves.
“I am 51, and I have never experienced anything like this.
“I thought my house was going to collapse. Everything inside my house was all jumbled up. I didn’t have time to even start cleaning,” he said.
Public broadcaster NHK reported that nine people had lost their lives, many of them in the village of Atsuma, where the landslide engulfed their homes.
Thirty-one people were still missing, the broadcaster said, with about 300 sustaining minor injuries.
Moments after the initial quake, which struck 62km southeast of the regional capital Sapporo, an aftershock measuring 5.3 rocked the area, with dozens more tremors felt through the day.
“We will do our best to save lives,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after an emergency cabinet meeting.
Government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said: “I urge people in areas shaken by strong quakes to stay calm, pay attention to evacuation information and help each other.
“It’s going to rain [in Hokkaido]. Please be very careful of further landslides.”
About 20,000 rescue workers, including police and members of the Self-Defence Forces, were responding to the disaster, Suga said.
A further 20,000 troops are expected to join the effort.
Japan is still recovering from its worst typhoon in 25 years, which struck the western part of the country on Tuesday, claiming at least 11 lives and causing major damage to an important airport.
The quake also caused major transport disruption, with all flights cancelled from Sapporo’s main airport, Chitose, where the shaking brought down part of a ceiling and burst a water pipe. Buses and trains were halted. –
As many as 30 people are feared buried beneath the rubble of landslides