A strong earthquake knocked over walls and set off scattered fires around metropolitan Osaka in western Japan on Monday morning, killing at least three people and injuring dozens.
The Osaka prefectural government's disaster management department said two people were found dead, while the Ibaraki city official confirmed a third victim. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said more than 90 were injured in Osaka and nearby prefectures of Hyogo and Kyoto.
One victim was a 9-year-old girl knocked down by a concrete wall at her elementary school as she walked by. A man in his 80s died in the collapse of a concrete wall in Osaka city. An 84-year-old man in nearby Ibaraki died after a bookshelf fell on top of him at home, according to city officials. Many homes and buildings, including a major hospital, were temporarily without power, though electricity was restored at most places by midafternoon.
The magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck shortly after 8 a.m. north of Osaka at a depth of about 13 kilometers (8 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The strongest shaking was north of Osaka, but the quake rattled large parts of western Japan, including Kyoto, the agency said.
The quake knocked over walls, broke windows and set off scattered building fires. It toppled book shelves in homes and scattered goods on shop floors. It also cracked roads and broke water pipes, leaving homes without water.
The morning commute was disrupted, as dozens of domestic flights in and out of Osaka were grounded, while train and subway service in the Osaka area including the bullet train were suspended to check for damage. Passengers were seen exiting trains on the tracks between stations. Some subway services started to resume in the afternoon.
The earthquake reminded many in Japan of the magnitude 7.3 Hanshin-Kobe quake in 1995 that killed more than 6,000 in the region. Monday's quake also followed a series of smaller quakes near Tokyo in recent weeks.
A 30-year-old lawyer Jun Kawasaki said the quake reminded him of the Kobe quake 23 years ago, and started packing up immediately to run away.
"It was not as bad as the Kobe quake," he told the Associated Press from Osaka. His girlfriend ducked down under the table. Elevators in his office building were out of operation. "I used the stairs but I was out of breath by the time I arrived at my office on the 20th floor."
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Hiromi Tanoue in Osaka contributed to this report.
The earthquake hit the Japanese city just before 8am on Monday, killing three people, including a six-year-old girl.
Three people have died and more than 200 others were injured after a powerful earthquake shook the Japanese coastal city of Osaka and nearby areas during the morning rush hour on Monday.
The victims were named as Rina Miyake, a 9-year-old girl, and Minoru Yasui, an 80-year-old man, who died when they were hit by collapsing walls after the magnitude-6.1 quake struck just before 8am local time, media said. A second man, Motochika Goto, 85, was crushed by a falling bookcase at his home.
Japanese city to appeal against court order over tsunami death of 23 schoolchildren Read more
The quake, which did not trigger a tsunami, left more than 170,000 households without power in Osaka prefecture and neighbouring Hyogo prefecture, where an earthquake killed more than 6,400 people in the city of Kobe in January 1995.
Monday’s earthquake was of a relatively low magnitude but caused violent shaking due to its shallow depth of 13km. It registered up to a lower-6 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 0 to 7. Quakes of a lower-6 intensity make it hard for people to stay on their feet and can topple unsecured furniture and other items.
Officials warned of possible strong aftershocks. “There are fears that the risk of house collapses and landslides has increased in the areas shaken strongly,” said Toshiyuki Matsumori of the country’s meteorological agency. “Please make sure that you are fully on alert about seismic activities and information on rainfall, and stay clear of dangerous places.”
Experts said the earthquake could have involved a fault that has not moved for more than 10,000 years.
“We may have to consider the possibility of even greater earthquakes following, as happened in the quakes in Kumamoto,” Kyodo news quoted Shinji Toda, an earthquake geology professor at Tohoku University, as saying.
Dozens of people were killed in Kumamoto in south-western Japan in April 2016 after two powerful earthquakes struck within two days of each other.
TV coverage of the immediate aftermath of the Osaka quake showed ruptured underground pipes spewing water on to the street, while firefighters were seen tackling a blaze at a home on the city’s northern outskirts. A number of other fires were reported.
Kansai Electric Power said no irregularities had been detected at three nuclear plants in the region. Several rail services were suspended, including the bullet train. Television images showed passengers getting off trains and walking along the tracks between stations.
The car manufacturer Daihatsu said it had suspended operations at its plants in Osaka and nearby Kyoto, while the consumer electronics firm Sharp said its factories were operating normally.
“I saw the ceiling and the floor undulating, and I could barely stand. I was very scared,” Katsufumi Abe, who was at Osaka’s main railway station when the quake struck, told Kyodo.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A girl was killed by a fallen wall caused by an earthquake at an elementary school in Takatsuki Photograph: KYODO/Reuters
The prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said the government was assessing the damage and that its priority was to rescue anyone trapped inside buildings. He said he had instructed officials to “swiftly collect information on the damage, do their utmost to rescue people and save lives… and provide timely information to the public”.
An American visitor to the city described being woken up by violent shaking. “We were sleeping and it woke us up abruptly,” Kate Kilpatrick, who was staying in a hotel in Osaka, told Reuters. “It was so terrifying because this is my first earthquake. I thought it was a nightmare because I was so confused. The whole world was aggressively shaking.”
Some residents said their homes had not suffered structural damage but that the shaking had sent objects flying off shelves.
Monday’s earthquake was the third measuring higher than magnitude-4 to have struck Japan – one of the world’s most seismically active countries – in recent days.
In March 2011, a magnitude-9 earthquake triggered a tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people along Japan’s north-east coast.
TOKYO: At least three people were killed and more than 200 injured after a strong quake rocked Osaka in western Japan during the morning rush hour on Monday (Jun 18).
The quake, which hit just before 8am (7am Singapore time), killed three people, including a nine-year-old girl. It also halted factory lines and burst water mains, government officials and public broadcaster NHK said.
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Local police said the child died in the city of Takatsuki, north of Osaka city, with media reporting she was trapped when a wall collapsed on her at school.
Osaka quake update: Damage in Takatsuki City's public school. A 9 year old girl found stuck between the wall of school swimming pool, while many more injuries reported. — michiyo ishida (@MichiyoCNA) June 18, 2018
NHK said an 80-year-old man had also been killed by a collapsing wall, and that the third fatality was a man trapped under a bookcase in his home.
More than 200 people were also injured in the 5.3-magnitude quake, which according to the United States Geological Survey, struck at a depth of 15.4km. The Japanese meteorological agency originally put the quake's magnitude at 5.9 but later raised it to 6.1.
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The epicentre of the earthquake was in the northern part of the prefecture at at a depth of 13km, the agency said. No tsunami warning was issued.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters the government was "working united, with its first priority on saving people's lives".
PM Abe stresses rescuing lives is of utmost importance. He tells reporters at 0859 local time an hour after the big earthquake in Osaka.He says the government is trying to gather information on damage, prepare for rescue and relief, and inform the latest to the public — michiyo ishida (@MichiyoCNA) June 18, 2018
"RING OF FIRE"
Local officials said they had not received reports of major damage in the highly urbanised area, where roads and train tracks criss-cross around densely packed apartment buildings.
NHK showed footage of firefighters tackling a blaze that ripped through a home north of Osaka, and several broadcasters showed images of water gushing into the street from underground pipes.
A number of train services were suspended, including the "shinkansen" bullet train.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority said it had detected no problems at its local atomic power plants, but some companies, including Honda, said they had suspended operations at local plants.
Kansai Electric said on its website that around 170,000 homes in the Osaka region were without power.
Despite its relatively low magnitude, the quake caused quite a shake, registering a lower six on the Japanese experiential scale of up to seven, meaning it is hard to stay standing.
Earthquake in Osaka pic.twitter.com/PL2EotlEMR — Yannick Decorte (@yanikun_csun) June 17, 2018
"The floor moved violently. It was a strong vertical jolt. Nearly all of the dishes fell and shattered on the floor," said Kaori Iwakiri, a 50-year-old nurse in Moriguchi, just north of Osaka city.
"My parents suffered a blackout and they have no water. I plan to take water to them now."
Eiji Shibuya, 52, said the tremor reminded him of the devastating 1995 Kobe earthquake, which killed nearly 6,500 people.
"I was stunned. I couldn't do anything," he told AFP from Itami, a city in eastern Osaka region.
"I was worried about my son as he had just left for his high school. I was relieved when I confirmed he was safe."
POSSIBILITY OF AFTERSHOCKS
Multiple small aftershocks followed the quake, and an official from Japan's meteorological agency warned residents to remain on guard.
"There are fears that the risk of house collapses and landslides has increased in the areas shaken strongly," said Toshiyuki Matsumori, in charge of monitoring quakes at the agency.
Government spokesman Suga also cautioned "there is a possibility that strong aftershocks will happen".
"Large-scale quakes are likely to happen in the next two to three days," he told reporters.
Singaporean Benny Tong, who is in Osaka to visit his fiancee and her family, said he felt "intense rattling" for about 20 seconds before the quake.
"I could hear and feel the trembling of the house and furniture. Then the ground shook and swayed quite dramatically for about a minute. Thankfully nothing too bad happened.
"I could see the overhead electricity cables outside my house shake quite a lot. I have experienced a few minor quakes before in Osaka, but this was the first time I felt one as big as this," he said, adding that he usually visits Osaka every six months or so.
Japan sits on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire" where a large proportion of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded.
On Mar 11, 2011, a devastating magnitude 9.0 quake struck under the Pacific Ocean, and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.
It also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan's worst postwar disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
