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Killer quake rocks Japan
25/03/2007 13:54 - (SA)
Kanazawa - A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan on Sunday, killing one person, injuring at least 170, reducing homes to rubble and destroying roads, officials said.
Residents fled to emergency shelters after hundreds of buildings were damaged and aftershocks rattled the Noto peninsula on the west coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, including one 5.3-magnitude tremor.
"I've never experienced such shaking. I felt a strong tremor from underground when I was in the kitchen and then a cupboard fell down," guesthouse owner Sachiko Tanaka said by telephone from badly-hit Wajima city.
Japan's meteorological agency initially estimated the magnitude of the first quake, which struck at about 09:42 (00:42 GMT) off Ishikawa Prefecture, at 7.1 but later revised the figure.
The agency issued a tsunami warning for the Noto peninsula just one minute after the quake, using a new system based on data from a preliminary tremor that comes before the main earthquake.
It lifted the alert after about two hours as only small waves hit the shore.
The tremor triggered landslides and a thermal power plant halted operations automatically, but nuclear power plants in the area reported no problems.
One woman, 52-year-old Kiyomi Miyakoshi, died after being hit by a stone lantern in a garden. At least 170 people were hurt, 12 of them seriously, the disaster management agency said, warning the figure could rise.
More than 200 buildings were damaged and 25 were completely destroyed in the city of Wajima, while hundreds more were left without electricity in the region, local officials said.
"The tremors were really terrible," said city official Masahiro Onishi. "Lots of people are moving to shelters now but we don't see any panic in my region. We still feel aftershocks but people are acting orderly."
The meteorological agency said as many as 108 tremors strong enough to be felt by local residents were detected in the area by 17:00 (08:00 GMT).
The quake's epicentre was located under the sea bed about 300km northwest of the capital, Tokyo, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rushed to his office to monitor relief efforts.
The government, which has set up a special earthquake information office, was to dispatch a team of inspectors to assess damage in the area, top government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a press conference.
Japan's defence ministry dispatched disaster relief troops to the area while police sent a team of 400 rescuers.
- SAPA
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