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A neighbor crosses a earthquake crack caused by an earthquake in Kiyota, a suburb of Sapporo, Hokkaido, northern Japan, on Friday, Sept. 7, 2018. A powerful earthquake struck large areas of the country on Thursday. main island of Hokkaido, in the far north of Japan. landslides and power loss. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)
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A neighbor passes by a look where the ground sank in an earthquake in Kiyota, a suburb of Sapporo, Hokkaido, in northern Japan, Friday, September 7, 2018. A powerful earthquake struck large islands on Thursday. Main island of Hokkaido, trigger landslides and cause power loss. (AP Photo / Eugene Hoshiko)
SAPPORO, Japan – Researchers used dogs, backhoes and shovels to search mud and debris for survivors under the landslides caused by a powerful earthquake in northern Japan on Friday, killing at least 16 people or presumed dead.
The magnitude 6.7 earthquake triggered on Thursday dozens of landslides that buried homes in avalanches of land, rocks and wood on the main island of Hokkaido, the northernmost of the country. In Atsuma, a town of 4,600 inhabitants, of which 26 were still missing.
Landslides tore up some houses and buried others. Some residents interviewed by the national broadcaster NHK described the awakening to find their loved ones and neighbors.
"The whole thing has just collapsed," said one. "It's amazing."
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said nearly half of the nearly 3 million households on the island had recovered their electricity after a day of island-wide blackouts.
"The forecast is for rain, and this could lead to more landslides, so keep being extremely cautious," he said.
The regional government said the high-speed train to the provincial capital, Sapporo, was due to reopen later that day. The city's regional airport was also starting to resume operations after the cancellation of hundreds of flights, blocking thousands of travelers, due to Thursday's power outage and minor earthquake damage.
Hokkaido is the northern border of Japan and a major agricultural region with rugged mountain ranges and vast forests, and its inhabitants have traditionally coped with long winters, lonely and dry conditions. 39, other difficulties.
It is sparsely populated compared to the rest of Japan, but disturbances have been widespread. Many roads were closed and some were impassable.
In Sapporo, the regional capital with 1.9 million people, losses have been relatively low. But the damage to parts of the city was severe, with sloping houses and roads in ruins or ruins. A mudslide left several cars half buried and the ground sank, leaving drainage pipes and sewer plates protruding more than one meter (yard) in some places.
"I was on the 9th floor when he hit .I was about to go to sleep." Then suddenly, there was a big shake .I have never known a tremor. as big since I was born, so I was really surprised "Sayaka Igarashi, 20, told The Associated Press.
"People say there could be aftershocks, I'm afraid there's another big shock," said Ryota Kitsui, 29.
The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Hiroshige Seko, said Friday that it would take at least a week to restore power in all communities because of the damage done to the Tomato-Atsuma thermal power plant.
"We are trying to do it faster, but it will probably take a week," Seko said. He urged residents to save energy by turning off lights, unplugging unused appliances, and keeping family members together in a room.
"It will help us restore power in more places," he said.
The last few months have brought a series of calamities to Japan. The earthquake followed a typhoon that lifted heavy trucks and caused major floods in western Japan, damaging the main airport near Osaka and Kobe. The summer has also been marked by devastating floods and landslides due to torrential rains in Hiroshima and extremely high temperatures in the country.
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Yamaguchi brought back from Tokyo. The author of the AP, Elaine Kurtenbach, contributed from Tokyo.
