At least eight dead and 300 injured as 6.7 quake triggers huge landslides in Hokkaido, Japan
Earthquake destroys houses, cuts off roads and causes landslides that buried parts of towns and left mountains nearly bare
At least eight people died and about 300 people were injured after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 rocked Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido early Thursday, destroying houses, cutting off roads and causing massive multiple landslides that buried parts of towns and left many mountains nearly bare.
The 3:08am quake also cut power supplies to all 2.95 million homes and a nuclear power plant in the prefecture – a popular tourist destination some 1,600km from Tokyo – while grounding flights and disrupting train services, authorities and other sources said. As of 5pm, power had returned to 340,000 homes.
About 30 people are missing and some 1,900 people are taking shelter at evacuation centres set up at more than 400 locations, according to police, rescuers and local authorities.
The government said the Self-Defence Forces are dispatching 25,000 personnel for relief operations.
The temblor, which occurred in southern Hokkaido at a depth of about 37km, registered the highest reading of 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale in Atsuma and upper 6 in Abira, both southeast of Sapporo. No tsunami warning was issued.
