Quake paralyses Hokkaido, kills seven
33 missing and 300 injured after 6.7magnitude shake knocks out power for 5.3 million
TOKYO: At least seven people were killed and 33 were missing after a powerful earthquake paralysed Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido yesterday, media reported, but the death toll was likely to rise as rescuers searched houses buried by landslips.
The quake, the latest episode in a miserable summer of natural disasters in Japan, knocked out power to all of Hokkaido’s 5.3 million residents.
Public broadcaster NHK said the death toll had reached seven and that six people were found in cardiopulmonary arrest, a term commonly used in Japan before death is formally confirmed. Another 300 were injured after the 6.7magnitude quake struck before dawn.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said 25,000 SelfDefence Force troops would be deployed for rescue operations.
Aerial footage showed dozens of landslips exposing barren hillsides near the town of Atsuma in southern Hokkaido, with mounds of reddish earth and toppled trees piled up at the edge of green fields. The collapsed remains of what appeared to be houses or barns were scattered about.
Power was restored to a nuclear energy plant after the quake left it relying on emergency generators for 10 nervous hours. The situation at utility Hokkaido Electric Power’s threereactor Tomari nuclear plant provided an uncomfortable echo of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011 when a massive tsunami knocked out backup generators. Tomari needs electricity to keep fuel rods cool, and had to rely on backup diesel generators that kicked in after the quake until power was restored to all three reactors last evening.
The entire island of 5.3 million people lost power for the first time since Hokkaido Electric Power Co was created in 1951.
All trains across the island were also halted.
It could take a week to restore power fully to all residents, Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said.
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party begins a leadership contest today but said there would be no campaigning through to Sunday. Abe and rival Shigeru Ishiba both cancelled media appearances slated for today. — Reuters