612bv3
October 24th, 2004, 04:47 AM
Hope the death toll doesn't go over 16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Strong Quake Kills at Least 16 in Northern Japan
By JAMES BROOK
Published: October 24, 2004
TOKYO, Sunday, Oct. 24 - A series of powerful earthquakes jolted northern Japan in quick succession Saturday evening, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 900, according to a preliminary tally by Kyodo News.
Television images from Niigata Prefecture showed groups of residents huddling under blankets as they prepared to spend the night in the safety of open squares. Nearby, fires burned in blacked out neighborhoods, glass littered sidewalks from shattered shop windows and cars eased slowly over one highway section buckled by one of the seven quakes. The most powerful registered 6.8 in magnitude, one of the strongest in recent decades, according to Japan Meteorological Agency.
The vertical and horizontal shocks caused houses to collapse and derailed a Shinkansen bullet train for the first time. About 42,000 residents were evacuated throughout the prefecture.
The strong temblors were also felt in Tokyo, where Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was giving a speech to open the Tokyo International Film Festival. The Prime Minister did not skip a beat and there was no panic.
Of the more than 16 people killed, four were children, including three who died when their house collapsed in Ojiya, close to the epicenter. Two men died when concrete walls collapsed on them.
A total of 120 people were injured in Ojiya, 84 in Tokamachi, about 300 in Nagaoka, about 50 in Kashiwazaki and more than 160 in other towns and villages as of early Sunday morning , according to a Kyodo News tally based on police, government and hospital reports.
Blackouts affected about one million people. Piped gas, a source of major fires after past earthquakes, was cut to more than 40,000 households in Niigata Prefecture. Parts of three expressways were closed, and many side roads suffered cave-ins. Although a bullet train partially derailed in Niigata, there were no injuries among the 150 passengers. It was the first time the train had been derailed since services began in 1964, according to the Transport Ministry. Through the chilly night, emergency workers searched through collapsed houses, searching for at least four people believed to have been in their homes at dinner time. The first quake hit at 5:56 p.m., with its focus 12 miles below ground in the Chuetsu region in Niigata Prefecture. During the next two hours, residents were affected by six more quakes.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active areas, recording about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude six or greater. Memories are still vivid of the Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 6,400 people in 1995. That quake measured 7.2. The earthquakes came as Japan has been cleaning up from last week's typhoon, the deadliest in two decades, which killed 80 people.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Strong Quake Kills at Least 16 in Northern Japan
By JAMES BROOK
Published: October 24, 2004
TOKYO, Sunday, Oct. 24 - A series of powerful earthquakes jolted northern Japan in quick succession Saturday evening, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 900, according to a preliminary tally by Kyodo News.
Television images from Niigata Prefecture showed groups of residents huddling under blankets as they prepared to spend the night in the safety of open squares. Nearby, fires burned in blacked out neighborhoods, glass littered sidewalks from shattered shop windows and cars eased slowly over one highway section buckled by one of the seven quakes. The most powerful registered 6.8 in magnitude, one of the strongest in recent decades, according to Japan Meteorological Agency.
The vertical and horizontal shocks caused houses to collapse and derailed a Shinkansen bullet train for the first time. About 42,000 residents were evacuated throughout the prefecture.
The strong temblors were also felt in Tokyo, where Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was giving a speech to open the Tokyo International Film Festival. The Prime Minister did not skip a beat and there was no panic.
Of the more than 16 people killed, four were children, including three who died when their house collapsed in Ojiya, close to the epicenter. Two men died when concrete walls collapsed on them.
A total of 120 people were injured in Ojiya, 84 in Tokamachi, about 300 in Nagaoka, about 50 in Kashiwazaki and more than 160 in other towns and villages as of early Sunday morning , according to a Kyodo News tally based on police, government and hospital reports.
Blackouts affected about one million people. Piped gas, a source of major fires after past earthquakes, was cut to more than 40,000 households in Niigata Prefecture. Parts of three expressways were closed, and many side roads suffered cave-ins. Although a bullet train partially derailed in Niigata, there were no injuries among the 150 passengers. It was the first time the train had been derailed since services began in 1964, according to the Transport Ministry. Through the chilly night, emergency workers searched through collapsed houses, searching for at least four people believed to have been in their homes at dinner time. The first quake hit at 5:56 p.m., with its focus 12 miles below ground in the Chuetsu region in Niigata Prefecture. During the next two hours, residents were affected by six more quakes.
Japan is one of the world's most seismically active areas, recording about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude six or greater. Memories are still vivid of the Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 6,400 people in 1995. That quake measured 7.2. The earthquakes came as Japan has been cleaning up from last week's typhoon, the deadliest in two decades, which killed 80 people.