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TOKYO (Reuters) – The earthquake that hit the island of Hokkaido in northern Japan has doubled to reach at least 16 people, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday.
A woman (C) wipes her tears after her missing father was found in an area damaged by a landslide caused by an earthquake in the town of Atsuma, Hokkaido, in northern Japan. Photo taken September 7, 2018 in Kyodo.
The magnitude 6.7 earthquake that struck Thursday before dawn caused landslides that buried homes and paralyzed Hokkaido with widespread power and transmission cuts.
The casualty toll had been raised to eight hours overnight, but the NHK quoted Abe as reporting the new total soon after holding an emergency meeting on Friday morning.
Another 26 people were reported missing, the disaster management authorities said.
(For a chart on the earthquake in Japan, click on tmsnrt.rs/2oJz6zd)
The island, a tourist destination the size of Austria known for its mountains, lakes and seafood, lost all power after the earthquake when Hokkaido Electric Power Co closed its power plants at fossil fuels as a precaution.
The utility has restored energy to about 1.31 million customers out of 2.95 million by Friday, said the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said it could take at least a week to restore power.
The earthquake was the second disaster to hit Japan this week after a summer in which the country was hit by deadly typhoons, floods and a record heat wave.
The Kansai International Airport has been shut down since Typhoon Jebi passed through Osaka on Tuesday, although some domestic flights operated by Japan Airlines (JAL) and ANA's low-cost carrier PNA Aviation resumed on Friday, operators said. .
At Hokkaido's main airport, New Chitose, JAL was preparing to restart Friday from 11:00 am (02:00 GMT), a spokesman said. ANA canceled all morning flights but would resume operations in the afternoon, a spokesman said.
JR Hokkaido planned to resume high-speed train operations from noon. He was also trying to pick up other train services on Friday afternoon, a spokesman said.
However, manufacturers were still affected by power outages.
Toyota Motor Corp's Tomakomai plant, which makes transmissions and other parts, said its operations were suspended indefinitely until power was restored, a spokesman said.
Toppan Printing's operations in a factory in Chitose, which makes food packaging, will remain suspended until it regains power, a spokesman said.
The cultural events were also touched, with a friendly match between Japan and Chile scheduled for Friday in Sapporo.
Report by Chris Gallagher, Kaori Kaneko, Makiko Yamazaki and Osamu Tsukimori; Written by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Paul Tait
