12 Dead in Hokkaido Quake; Search for Missing Continues

September 7, 2018

Sapporo- The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido on Thursday has risen to 12, while six others are in cardiac or respiratory arrest, the National Police Agency and local authorities said Friday.

In the town of Atsuma, one of the hardest-hit municipalities, 26 people remain unaccounted for, and search and rescue operations by police officers, Self-Defense Forces troops, firefighters and others are continuing. In the town, the 6.7-magnitude temblor measured the highest level of 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.

All of some 2.95 million households in Hokkaido were left without electricity after the quake. By Friday morning, nearly half of them, or 1.4 million households, recovered from the power loss. But 1.55 million households are still suffering from the outage, and restoration efforts are going on.

The search and rescue work was conducted through the night. The SDF mobilized some 24,000 personnel on Friday. Police are providing support for people affected by the quake, including water supply, while continuing the operations to search for missing people.

The 12 victims include those in Atsuma and Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, according to the NPA and local authorities. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a ministerial meeting in Tokyo on Friday that the death toll has reached 16.

A total of 28 houses were destroyed, including due to landslides triggered by the earthquake. Water supply has been disrupted across Atsuma and the neighboring town of Abira.

In areas including Sapporo and Abira, a total of 7,339 people were taking shelter as of 11 a.m. Friday.

Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahashi visited a shelter and other facilities in afflicted areas to inspect damage.

Of all public schools in Hokkaido, including elementary, junior high and high schools, 1,753, or about 90 pct, called off classes on Friday.

Hokkaido Railway Co., or JR Hokkaido, partially resumed services on its Hokkaido Shinkansen bullet train line early Friday afternoon.

New Chitose Airport, which was closed on Thursday due to water leaks after the quake, reopened its terminal building for domestic flights at 10 a.m. Friday.

Japan Airlines and ANA Holdings Inc.'s  All Nippon Airways partially resumed their flights to and from the airport, a major gateway to Hokkaido.

Sapporo's municipally run subway lines will fully go back online later on Friday, according to the city government's transportation bureau.

Hokkaido Electric Power Co. has sent power supply vehicles to key facilities, such as hospitals.

The company is aiming to secure a capacity for some 3 million kilowatts of electricity, enough for supply to 2.5 million households, within Friday.

At the ministerial meeting in Tokyo, the central government reconfirmed that it will make all-out efforts to support affected people and restore damaged infrastructure.

Abe instructed participating ministers to try their best to restart Hokkaido Electric thermal power plants that went offline after the quake, while asking for energy-saving in areas where electricity supply has been resumed.

Abe also expressed the government's intention to accelerate the deliveries of relief goods to affected areas before receiving requests for help from relevant municipalities. Jiji Press