Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Toll in Japan quake, landslides rises to 20
ATSUMA, Japan — The toll from an earthquake that rocked Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido rose to 20 on Friday, and in one small town 19 people remained unaccounted for after an entire mountainside collapsed on their homes.
The region was slowly restoring transport links and power, with lights back in about half of the homes on the island after a day of region-wide blackouts. Officials said they hoped to have the generating capacity close to normal by the weekend, though full repairs to Hokkaido’s main power plant could take up to a week.
Rescuers were using search dogs, backhoes and shovels as they dug through tons of mud and debris from the landslides triggered by the magnitude-6.7 quake that struck before dawn Thursday.
After more than a day of digging, there were no reports of survivors being pulled from their crushed homes in the outskirts of the town of Atsuma, not far from the quake’s epicenter.
There were scant signs of damage in Atsuma. But by late Friday, the power still had not been restored and stores were closed.
In the regional capital, Sapporo, lights and water were restored to many areas. Bullet train services resumed and the city’s airport at Chitose reopened.
Some parts of the city were severely damaged, with houses atilt and roads crumbled or sunken. A mudslide left several cars half buried, and the ground subsided in some areas, leaving drainpipes and manhole covers protruding by more than a yard in some places.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said it would take at least a week to fully restore power to all communities due to damage at a thermal power plant at Tomato-Atsuma that supplies half of Hokkaido’s electricity.
“We’re trying to do it faster, but it will likely take a week,” Seko said. He urged residents to conserve power.