[ad_1]
TOKYO (Reuters) – A powerful 6.7-magnitude earthquake on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido caused a landslide that swallowed homes early Thursday, injuring and trapping a number of people and cutting power in several areas.
A building damaged by a powerful earthquake is observed in the city of Abira, on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo on September 6, 2018. Obligatory credit Kyodo / via REUTERS
A landslide along a long ridge in the rural town of Atsumi has been observed in aerial images of the NHK public channel. A dozen people were transported to the hospital with injuries, including a serious one, he added.
There were widespread blackouts and blocked roads, the NHK said, but no deaths were reported. A man suffered a heart attack after falling down the stairs, local media reported.
The earthquake, which hit Wednesday at 03:08 (1808 GMT), was not at risk of tsunami, according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA). The geological survey of the United States said it hit some 68 km southeast of Sapporo, the main city of Hokkaido.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who arrived at his office before 6 am, told reporters that his government had set up a command center to coordinate relief and rescue. His voice seemed haggard, Abe said saving lives was the top priority of his government.
The Tomari nuclear power plant suffered a power outage, but it cooled its fuel rods safely thanks to the emergency power supply, said the chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga. Hokkaido Electric Power Co Operator (9509.tSugar said at a press conference that there were no irregularities in the plant that was shut down shortly after the 2011 earthquake.
A fire broke out in a Mitsubishi Steel Mfg Co (5632.T) in the city of Muroran, but has been largely controlled, NHK said, citing local officials.
One could see a row of houses angled at strange angles, leaning against each other in a city, while the tiles and floors covered with New Chitose airport water . Many schools were closed and some 2.95 million households were without electricity, the NHK said.
A series of smaller shocks, including a magnitude 5.4, followed the initial quake, the Meteorological Agency said. Toshiyuki Matsumori, an agency official, warned residents to take precautions in the coming weeks.
Shinkansen high-speed trains have been stopped in some areas of Hokkaido, NHK said.
NHK Footage showed a broken brick wall and glass shards in a house, citing local police saying some people were stuck in collapsed structures.
Soldiers were shown looking for damage on a rural road blocked by fallen trees.
Japan, located on the arc of volcanoes and ocean trenches that partially surrounds the Pacific Basin, accounts for about 20% of earthquakes with magnitude 6 or more in the world.
On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the most powerful ever recorded in Japan, hit the ocean off the coast of Sendai city in the north of the country. The quake triggered a series of massive tsunamis that devastated a wide swath of the Pacific coast and killed nearly 20,000 people.
The tsunami also damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, resulting in a series of explosions and collapses in the worst nuclear disaster in the world in 25 years.
Saturday marked the 95th anniversary of the Great Kanto earthquake, a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area. Seismologists have said that another earthquake could hit the city at any time.
Written by William Mallard; edited by Andrew Roche and Sandra Maler
