JAPAN:A strong earthquake struck central Japan yesterday, killing at least seven people, injuring hundreds and causing a fire and radioactive leak at the world's biggest nuclear power plant.
The 6.8 magnitude quake levelled buildings, derailed trains and buckled roads after it struck about 10 miles off the coast of Niigata. Local media reported that four elderly women and a man were crushed to death by falling buildings. At least 800 people were hurt, some seriously.
Thousands more spent the night in evacuation centres as aftershocks continued to jolt the area and electricity, gas and water remained cut off. The country was rattled late in the evening by a deep tremor under the Sea of Japan estimated at magnitude 6.6 to 6.8 that swayed buildings in Tokyo, but there were no immediate reports of further damage.
Japanese TV showed footage of several people being pulled from the rubble of flattened houses. "The whole building shook from side to side," one pensioner sheltering in a local school said. "I'm too frightened to go back home."
Prime minister Shinzo Abe interrupted campaigning for a July 29th general election to visit the area and oversee an emergency taskforce. "We have to make every effort to save lives and reassure people," he said.
As night fell, rescue workers raced against time to dig out people still trapped under rubble before the start of heavy rain, forecast for tomorrow.
The quake, which hit just after 10am local time, also started a fire at the No 3 reactor of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa light-water nuclear plant, the largest nuclear complex in the world.
A spokesman for the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), admitted there was a "small leak" of radioactive water from reactors 3 and 6 into the sea but denied the reactor was ever in any danger.
"The radiation was well within safe limits," he said. Anti-nuclear campaigners have reacted with alarm to the leak and to reports that the blaze took as long as 90 minutes to put out.
"I was watching it on television and was very surprised it took so long," said Chihiro Kamisawa, a researcher with the NGO, Citizens Nuclear Information Centre. "If they're having problems putting out a small fire, what will they do when a bigger one strikes?" Callers to the plant were told by staff there that fire trucks were busy at other sites.
Aileen Mioko Smith of Green Action Japan said the plant was short staffed on a national holiday. "It raises serious questions about their emergency preparedness," she said, adding that it was "very worrying" that onsite radiation monitoring equipment at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa complex may have been stopped by the quake.
Japan has 55 nuclear plants operating and another 11 planned. Nuclear power provides a third of the country's energy needs but Tokyo wants to boost this to 40 per cent.
The plans are opposed by environmentalists and local residents who say the government is inviting disaster by building so many reactors in one of the planet's most seismically unstable countries. The power companies are reviewing their disaster readiness following a string of scandals and near misses.
Niigata has been hit by a series of strong earthquakes, including another 6.8 trembler almost three years ago, which killed 67 people and injured 4,800.
"This is the second large earthquake in the same place," said Mr Kamisawa. They should rethink concentrating so many plants in these dangerous areas."
Japanese nuclear plants are built to withstand quakes of 6.5 magnitude but most experts now think this should be increased to 6.9. As journalists suggested last night that the company operated lax construction standards at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, a Tepco spokesman said: "You could take that point of view."