Magnitude 6.7 quake paralyzes Hokkaido
7 dead, 33 missing, 300 injured in latest disaster to hit Japan
TOKYO (Reuters) — A powerful earthquake paralyzed Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido yesterday, killing at least seven people, triggering landslides and knocking out power to its 5.3 million residents.
The death toll from the 6.7-magnitude, pre-dawn temblor was likely to rise as rescuers searched houses buried by landslides.
About 33 people were missing and 300 were injured, public broadcaster NHK said. Four people were in cardiopulmonary arrest, a term used before death is officially confirmed.
The quake hit at 3:08 a.m. yesterday at a depth of 40 km, with its epicenter about 65 km southeast of Sapporo, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. In Atsuma, it registered a 7 on Japan’s seven-point quake intensity scale, the agency said, revising an earlier measurement.
The quake was the latest in a string of natural disasters to batter Japan after typhoons, flooding and a recordbreaking heat wave within the past two months.
Aerial footage showed dozens of landslides exposing barren hillsides near the town of Atsuma in southern Hokkaido, with mounds of red earth and toppled trees piled at the edge of green fields. The collapsed remains of what appeared to be houses or barns were strewn about.
“It came in four big jerks – boom! boom! boom! boom!’ one unidentified woman told NHK. “Before we knew it, our house was bent and we couldn’t open the door.”
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said 25,000 Self-Defense Force troops would be deployed for rescue operations.
The island – a tourist destination about the size of Austria and known for its mountains, lakes and seafood – lost its power when Hokkaido Electric Power Co. shut down all of its fossil fuel-fired power plants after the quake as a precaution.
It was the first time since the utility was established in 1951 that it happened.
Almost 12 hours later, power was restored to parts of Sapporo, Hokkaido’s capital, and Asahikawa, its secondbiggest city.
The government said there was damage to Hokkaido Electric’s Tomato-Atsuma plant, which supplies half of the island’s 2.95 million households. It could take a week to restore power fully to all residents, Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said. All trains across the island were halted. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party begins a leadership contest today but said there would be no campaigning through Sunday. Abe and rival Shigeru Ishiba both canceled campaign media appearances slated today.
Television footage from Sapporo showed crumbled roads and mud covering a main street. Police directed traffic because signal lights were out while drink-vending machines, ubiquitous in Japan, and most automated teller machines were not working.
“Without electricity, there’s nothing I can do except to write prescriptions,” a doctor in Abira, the town next to Atsuma, told NHK.
Media reported a baby girl at a Sapporo hospital who was in critical condition after the power was cut to her respirator. It was not clear if the hospital had a generator.
Hokkaido’s main airport was closed, at least for the day. Debris and water could be seen on the terminal floors.