Quake in central Japan kills one, hurts over 150

JAPAN: A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 jolted the west coast of central Japan on Sunday, killing one person, injuring more than 150 and damaging hundreds of homes, Japanese officials and media said.

Landslides were triggered, roads buckled and at least 25 houses collapsed completely when the quake struck at 9:42 a.m. (0042 GMT), Kyodo news agency said. The tremor, which was felt in Tokyo, seriously damaged some 200 houses, it said.

The quake’s focus was at a depth of 11 km below the seabed off the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, about 300 km (190 miles) west of Tokyo. The peninsula is a mountainous district known for its hot spring resorts.

A 52-year-old woman died in Wajima, a resort and fishing town on the western side of the peninsula, after being trapped under a stone lantern that toppled in her garden, officials said.

About 40 people were being treated for injuries, mostly minor, in hospital in Wajima, a town of around 34,000 people, media said.

“Sprinklers went on, some walls collapsed. It’s really bad,” a hotel employee in Wajima told NHK television. Anxious residents gathered outside their homes in Wajima, some holding children in their arms, as weak aftershocks were felt in the area and officials warned more could be in store.

More than 1,000 Wajima residents whose homes were damaged were evacuated to elementary schools acting as shelters, Kyodo said. TV footage showed collapsed wooden houses, tiles from roofs scattered on narrow streets and a man digging through piles of boards from a fallen house in Wajima.

“I wasn’t able to stand at all, it was really terrible”, a woman in Wajima told NHK.

In Nanao, another resort and fishing city with a population of around 60,000, ambulance services were flooded with calls to help people who had suffered burns and injuries, Kyodo said.

“I looked outside and electric poles were shaking,” said Hiroshi Tanaka, an official at the fire department in Nanao.

“Residents called in but they were calm and there weren’t many serious injuries,” Tanaka said. “One cook at an inn was deep-frying food and got burns.”

“We want to ensure the safety of residents and do our best in rescue efforts,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. The Japan Meteorological Agency originally estimated the magnitude at 7.1 but later revised it to 6.9. It had earlier estimated the depth of the focus at 50 km (30 miles).

A tsunami warning for waves of up to 50 cm (20 inches) issued for Ishikawa prefecture was later lifted after small tsunamis hit in some areas..

Tokyo, Sunday, Reuters