Rescuers were rushing to unearth survivors and restore power after a powerful earthquake jolted Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, buckling roads, knocking homes off their foundations and causing hillsides to collapse.
Residents in Sapporo were shaken from their beds when the magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck at 3.08am. At least seven people were confirmed dead and around 30 people were unaccounted for.
Earthquake triggers landslides in Hokkaido, Japan – in pictures Read more
Japan is used to dealing with disasters, but the last few months have brought a string of calamities.
The quake came on the heels of a typhoon that triggered heavy flooding in western Japan and left the main airport near Osaka and Kobe closed after a tanker rammed a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The summer also brought floods from torrential rains in Hiroshima and extremely hot temperatures across the country.
Video cameras on Hokkaido showed cities going dark as the quake disabled power systems, leaving nearly 3 million households on the island without electricity.
The island’s only nuclear power plant, which was offline, switched to a backup generator to keep its spent fuel cool and nuclear regulators said there was no sign of abnormal radiation – a concern after a massive quake and tsunami in March 2011 that hit north-east Japan destroyed both external and backup power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns.
Play Video 0:44 Landslide buries homes in Japan's Hokkaido after 6.6 quake – video
Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the quake’s epicentre was 40km (24 miles) deep. But it still wreaked havoc across much of the relatively sparsely inhabited island.
Rescuers were using small backhoes and shovels to sift through the tons of soil, rocks and timber in hopes of finding survivors in the town of Atsuma, where steep mountainsides collapsed, crushing homes and farm buildings and leaving scores of brown gashes in the deep green hills.
Japan earthquake: landslide traps residents in homes Read more
Airports and many roads on the island were closed and trains were cancelled because of power outages. NHK showed workers rushing to clean up shattered glass and reinstall ceiling panels that had tumbled down in the region’s biggest airport at Chitose.
The prime minister, Shinzō Abe, said that up to 25,000 troops and other personnel would be dispatched to Hokkaido to help with rescue operations.
TOKYO: Devastating landslides caused by a powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake in northern Japan claimed at least nine lives on Thursday (Sep 6), with dozens still missing as homes were engulfed.
Multiple, large-scale landslides struck the sparsely populated countryside, which was also hit by the edge of a powerful typhoon that surged through Japan earlier this week.
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Aerial views showed dozens of houses destroyed at the bottom of a hill, with a rescue helicopter winching a resident to safety.
Around 3 million homes lost power after the quake damaged a major thermal plant supplying the region.
The Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido, which was not operational before the quake, was forced to turn to emergency backup power to keep its cooling system working, NHK said.
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Kazuo Kibayashi, a town official at hard-hit Abira town, told AFP: "There was a sudden, extreme jolt. I felt it went sideways, not up-and-down, for about two to three minutes."
"It stopped before shaking started again. I felt it come in two waves. I am 51, and I have never experienced anything like this. I thought my house was going to collapse. Everything inside my house was all jumbled up. I didn't have time to even start cleaning," he added.
Moments after the initial quake, an aftershock measuring 5.3 rocked the area and dozens more aftershocks followed throughout the night and into the morning.
An area damaged by an earthquake in Sapporo. (Photo: Reuters)
Akira Fukui, from the main city of Sapporo, told AFP: "I woke up around 3am with a vertical jolt. I put the light on but it went out shortly afterwards. All the traffic lights are out and there's no power at work."
No tsunami warning was issued after the relatively shallow quake, which struck 62km southeast of the regional capital Sapporo.
"We will do our best to save lives," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said after an emergency cabinet meeting.
NHK reported that nine people had lost their lives, many of them in the village of Atsuma, where the landslide engulfed the homes. Thirty-three people were still missing, the broadcaster added.
Local media said the dead also included an 82-year-old man who fell down the stairs at his home during the quake and that around 130 people had sustained minor injuries.
Around 20,000 rescue workers, including police and members of the Self-Defence Forces were responding to the disaster, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said. Another 20,000 SDF troops are expected to join the effort.
Police officers and rescue workers search for survivors from a building damaged by a landslide caused by a powerful earthquake in Atsuma town. (Photo: Reuters)
"I urge people in areas shaken by strong quakes to stay calm, pay attention to evacuation information... and help each other," Suga added.
"It's going to rain (in Hokkaido). Please be very careful of further landslides," the spokesman warned.
Japan is still recovering from the worst typhoon to hit the country in 25 years, which struck the western part of the country on Tuesday, claiming at least 11 lives and causing major damage to the region's main airport.
"RING OF FIRE"
Officials warned of the danger of fresh quakes.
"Large quakes often occur, especially within two to three days (of a big one)," said Toshiyuki Matsumori, in charge of monitoring earthquakes and tsunamis at the meteorological agency.
The risk of housing collapses and landslides had increased, he said, urging residents "to pay full attention to seismic activity and rainfall and not to go into dangerous areas."
A building damaged by a powerful earthquake is seen in Abira town in Hokkaido, Japan, on Sep 6, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Kyodo)
The earthquake also caused travel disruption, with all flights cancelled from Sapporo's main Chitose airport, where the quake brought down part of a ceiling and burst a water pipe. Local buses and trains and bullet train services were halted.
A friendly football match between Japan and Chile planned for Sapporo was cancelled, with the Japanese FA citing the quake's severe impact on power and transport.
Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko said it would take "at least a week" for power to be restored to nearly 3 million homes after a fire in the area's largest thermal plant was discovered.
And the national meteorological agency warned that more bad weather could be on the way for Hokkaido, urging people to be vigilant for landslides, high tides and heavy rain.
Japan sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where many of the world's earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded.
In June, a deadly tremor rocked the Osaka region, killing five people and injuring more than 350.
On Mar 11, 2011, a devastating 9.0-magnitude quake struck under the Pacific Ocean, and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.
Japan is still recovering from the worst typhoon to hit the country in 25 years, which struck the western part of the country on Tuesday, claiming at least 11 lives and causing major damage to the region's main airport.
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A POWERFUL 6.6-magnitude quake has rocked the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, killing at least eight people, collapsing homes and triggering landslides that left dozens missing.
Multiple, large-scale landslides struck the sparsely populated countryside, which was also hit by the edge of a powerful typhoon that surged through Japan earlier this week.
Aerial views showed dozens of houses destroyed at the bottom of a hill that was engulfed by a landslide, with a rescue helicopter winching a resident to safety.
Around three million homes lost power after the quake damaged a major thermal plant supplying the region.
The Tomari nuclear power plant in Hokkaido, which was not operational before the quake, was forced to turn to emergency back-up power to keep its cooling system working.
NHK News stream - massive landslides, probably assisted by heavy rain in the previous 30 hours. Some houses were in the wrong place. Hopefully there wasn't anybody home, but at 3:08 am there probably was #Earthquake @LastQuake @TTremblingEarth @Ambassador_SR pic.twitter.com/p5fLJyNEfN — Jamie Gurney (@UKEQ_Bulletin) September 5, 2018
Kazuo Kibayashi, 51, a town official at hard-hit Abira town, told AFP: “There was a sudden, extreme jolt. I felt it went sideways, not up-and-down, for about two to three minutes.
“It stopped before shaking started again. I felt it come in two waves. I am 51, and I have never experienced anything like this. I thought my house was going to collapse.
“Everything inside my house was all jumbled up. I didn’t have time to even start cleaning.”
Several people believed missing in the town of Atsuma, according to local police, after a landslide swept through homes.
“We urge residents in areas hit by strong tremors to heed information on television and radio and act by helping each other,” Suga told a press conference.
🇯🇵💢#𝗛𝗼𝗸𝗸𝗮𝗶𝗱𝗼 さっぽろ ほっかいど : amanece en Sapporo, Hokkaido.
Los daños son mas que todo estructurales, solo una noticia con 6 heridos, y algunos ascensores bloqueados por pérdida de energía.
🙏 pic.twitter.com/2J0XbMZhis — 🌐 (@GE0_data) September 5, 2018
TV footage shortly after the quake showed people coming out of their houses in the early hours of the morning following the quake.
“The government will work in unison towards reconstruction while giving the top priority to saving human lives,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.
Officials warned of the risk of further quakes.
“Large quakes often occur, especially within two-three days (of a big one),” said Toshiyuki Matsumori, in charge of monitoring earthquakes and tsunamis at the meteorological agency.
He added the risk of housing collapses and landslides had increased in the area hit by the quake, saying: “We urge residents to pay full attention to seismic activity and rainfall and not to go into dangerous areas.”
Japan sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where many of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded.
In June, a deadly tremor rocked the Osaka region, killing five people and injuring over 350.
On March 11, 2011, a devastating 9.0-magnitude quake struck under the Pacific Ocean, and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.
Japan is still recovering from the worst typhoon to hit the country in 25 years, which struck the western part of the country on Tuesday, claiming at least 11 lives and causing major damage to the region’s main airport.
