KASHIWAZAKI, Japan: A 6.8-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan's northwest coast yesterday, killing at least eight people. The quake injured hundreds of people, flattened scores of buildings and triggered a fire at a nuclear power plant.
Tokyo Electric Power Co's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant - the world's largest - leaked water containing radioactive materials from a reactor after the strong quake, a company spokesman said.
National broadcaster NHK reported that the water leaked into the Sea of Japan (East Sea), but that the radioactivity was below danger levels and posed no danger to the environment.
Fire sirens could be heard in hard-hit Kashiwazaki city, and older buildings were reduced to piles of lumber. More than 800 people were hurt, with injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises.
Six people in their 70s and 80s - four women and two men - died after being crushed when buildings collapsed on them in the quake, said officials with the National Police Agency (NPA) in Tokyo. A seventh person - an 82-year old man - died at a hospital where he had been taken with quake-related injuries, said NPA spokesman Shigeyoshi Nagano. A missing man was later confirmed dead.
The area was plagued by a series of aftershocks, the strongest of which was magnitude 6.9 last night. There were no immediate reports of additional damage or injuries from the aftershocks.
"I was so scared - the violent shaking went on for 20 seconds," Ritei Wakatsuki, an employee of convenience store Lawson, told The Associated Press over telephone from Kashiwazaki.
Flames and clouds of black smoke poured from the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant, which automatically shut down during the quake. The fire, at an electrical transformer, was put out shortly after noon.
Around 7,000 people in the quake zone were evacuated from their homes, according to media reports. Getting food and water supplies to evacuation centers was a top concern, Governor Hirohiko Iizumida told reporters.
More than 300 buildings in the city were destroyed, according to city officials. The force of the quake buckled seaside roads and bridges, and one-meter wide fissures could been seen in the ground along the coastline.
Rescue workers dug through flattened buildings in hopes of pulling victims alive from the wreckage.
The quake also knocked a train car off the rails at a station. No one was injured.
The Meteorological Agency issued tsunami warnings along the coast of Niigata prefecture state, but the warnings were later lifted. Waves as high as 50 centimeters were believed to have hit the coast, but no damage was reported.
The quake, which hit the region at 10:13 am local time was centered off the coast of Niigata, 260 km northwest of the capital, Tokyo.
Source: China Daily/agencies
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