Japan quake kills four, leaves over 2.2m households without power
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TOKYO • Thousands of Japanese households were without power yesterday after a magnitude-7.4 quake struck late on Wednesday night, throwing a swathe of north-eastern Japan into darkness, severing key transportation links and killing four.
The quake caused power outages in north-eastern and eastern Japan, affecting more than 2.2 million households, including some 700,000 in Tokyo, according to Tepco Power and Tohoku Electric Power.
Power was later restored to most households, according to the Kyodo news agency.
Chipmaker Renesas Electronics, a major supplier of automotive chips, suspended production at two semiconductor plants and partially stopped output at a third.
Toyota Motor, meanwhile, said it was restarting work at reduced capacity at two factories yesterday, after operations were suspended as soon as the quake struck.
The temblor revived memories of Japan's biggest one, a magnitude-9.1 quake that struck on March 11, 2011, in the same area and which included Fukushima prefecture and a nuclear power plant subsequently crippled by a tsunami and meltdown.
Wednesday's quake triggered a tsunami warning but it was cancelled early yesterday morning.
No abnormalities were reported at any nuclear power plants, although the authorities had earlier said a fire alarm was triggered at a turbine building at the crippled plant.
The quake left a Shinkansen bullet train service indefinitely suspended, and at least one major highway to the region was closed for safety checks.
"This one felt different (from the 2011 quake); it was huge. I had to hang on to something to stay upright," said Ms Aoi Hoshino, who owns a bar in Fukushima and had customers when the earthquake struck.
Parts of building facades tumbled onto streets below in some areas, and television footage showed a steep tiled roof crumpled over a parked, crushed car and workers examining cracked highways.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said four people had died and that the government would be on high alert for the possibility of further strong tremors over the next two to three days. At least 107 people were reported injured.
REUTERS
