Strong earthquake jolts northern Japan
Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 9:07 am Under World News Alerts
A strong earthquake jolted northern Japan early on Thursday (July 24), injuring nearly one hundred people, trapping hundreds in halted trains and cutting off electric power to thousands of homes.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said there was no threat of a tsunami from the quake, which struck at 0026 am JST (1526 GMT Wednesday) and had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 and could be felt as far away as Tokyo.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura told reporters the situation was still uncertain until at least daybreak.
“Once it’s light, we’ll have a better grasp of the situation and helicopters will be able see things like landslides,” Machimura said after the government set up an emergency task force at the prime minister’s official residence.
National broadcaster NHK put the injured toll at 90 and another Japanese broadcaster TBS at 104 at 2000 GMT. The focus of the quake was 120 km (75 miles) below the surface of the earth in Iwate prefecture, a mountainous, sparsely populated region, the agency said.
East Japan Railway Co said more than 600 people were stuck on five trains that were halted due to the quake.
There was a fire in one building in Hachinohe, a city with a population of about 240,000, and national broadcaster NHK showed fire engines driving through the streets towards the scene of the blaze, but the fire was soon extinguished and there were no reports of injuries in the fire.
TV footage showed offices with papers strewn around on the floor and some with parts of ceilings fallen down. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of landslides in some areas, where strong rain was expected in coming hours.
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
Thursday’s quake follows a string of earthquakes in the same region, the first of which in mid-June killed at least 10 people and left as many again missing. In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 65 people and injuring more than 3,000.
That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.
(Agencies)
( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)
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