Following yesterdays 7.3 earthquake off the coast of Fukushima an aftershock measuring up to 5.7 on the Richter scale has struck the area.

There have been conflicting reports as to the magnitude of today’s aftershock, but no reports of any damage so far.

According to RT Japan’s Meteorological Agency stated that it was 5.7 with its epicenter located off the coast of the Fukushima Prefecture at a depth of 30km.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), however, recorded the shock at 5.2, with a depth of 10km.

Authorities instructed residents in coastal areas to evacuate to higher ground following yesterdays quake and hundreds of schools were closed.

Over 3,000 people fled to evacuation centers in Fukushima Prefecture and at least 14 were injured

The cooling system of a reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power building at the Fukushima No. 2 power plant stopped working after the earthquake but was restarted about 100 minutes later, according to operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the strong earthquake was itself an aftershock of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake that triggered a deadly tsunami in the same region in 2011.

The agency also warned that another large quake could hit in the next few days and have urged residents to remain cautious for about a week. </s> Local residents look out to sea from higher ground after evacuating their homes following a 6.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami alert in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture, on November 22, 2016 (AFP Photo/JIJI PRESS)

Tokyo (AFP) - A powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit northeast Japan on Tuesday, sparking panic and triggering a tsunami including a one-metre (three-foot) wave that crashed ashore at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant.

National broadcaster NHK urged residents to "flee immediately" to higher ground, reminding viewers to heed the lessons of the "Great East Japan Earthquake".

A massive undersea quake with a magnitude of 9.0 that struck in March 2011 unleashed a tsunami that left more than 18,500 people dead or missing. It sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

An official from plant operator TEPCO told a news conference that a one-metre wave had hit the coast at the facility, but a company spokesman told AFP there were no reports of damage.

About a dozen other waves were recorded elsewhere on the northeast coast, according to the Meterological Agency, but they were smaller than initial warnings of waves as high as 3.0 metres.

The biggest, measuring 1.4 metres, hit the port at Sendai north of Fukushima, but officials said there were no reports of damage there.

NHK aired rolling coverage of the earthquake, with the words "Tsunami! Flee!" in white lettering over a bright red band on the screen.

The Meterological Agency lifted its final tsunami warning nearly seven hours after the earthquake struck.

TEPCO earlier reported that a water cooling system at a reactor in the separate Fukushima Daini facility had briefly stopped, in an automatic response, but that it was back up and operating.

"The biggest risk now is a case whereby contaminated water is carried away with the tsunami, which pollutes the environment," TEPCO's chief decommissioning officer Naohiro Masuda told reporters, of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi.

The 2011 disaster sent radiation levels across the Pacific Ocean soaring and decimated some fishing grounds off Japan's coast.

The global Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research said in July that levels were returning to normal but that the seabed and harbour near Fukushima were still highly contaminated.

Residents along the coast heeding evacuation advice clogged some roads, with a Fukushima newspaper reporting unusual early morning traffic jams in the small city of Soma.

There were no immediate signs of widespread damage and only minor injuries were initially reported.

Fourteen injuries have been reported throughout the region, including three elderly women who broke bones when falling or trying to evacuate.

Still, people along the coast were badly shaken.

"It was huge and lasted so long," Akemi Anzai, from the city of Minamisoma north of the Fukushima plant, said of the quake.

"The tsunami siren warning can be heard from the coastline," she told AFP. "The ground is still shaking. I'm so scared. But my concern is rather the situation at the nuclear plant."

The United States Geological Survey said the 6.9 magnitude quake, at a shallow depth of 11.3 kilometres (seven miles), struck shortly before 6:00 am (2100 GMT on Monday) in the Pacific off Fukushima.

It shook buildings in Tokyo, 230 kilometres to the south.

Shinkansen bullet train services were suspended in the region but gradually resumed, though delays were still being reported.

Sendai airport, which suffered significant damage during the 2011 tsunami, temporarily closed but flights resumed in the morning.

Fishing boats had rushed out to sea to avoid the direct impact of the tsunami, the Sankei Shimbun said.

NHK showed footage of what appeared to be seawater flowing up a river in Miyagi prefecture though none of it surged beyond the banks.

"The fear that I felt almost six years ago came back," Junko Murata, another Minamisoma resident, told AFP.

"Maybe there won't be major damage this time but we will have to remain on edge for years and years," she added, referring to the Fukushima plant.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and suffers several relatively violent quakes every year, although high building standards and frequent drills limit the number of casualties.

In April two strong quakes hit Kumamoto prefecture, leaving at least 50 dead and causing widespread damage. </s> SAPPORO, Japan -- A powerful earthquake Thursday on Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered dozens of landslides that crushed houses under torrents of dirt, rocks and timber, prompting frantic efforts to unearth any survivors.

At least nine people were killed, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. Officials said at least 366 were injured, five of them seriously, and almost 30 people were unaccounted for after the magnitude 6.7 earthquake jolted residents from their beds at 3:08 a.m.

Nearly 3 million households were left without power by the quake -- the latest in a run of natural disasters for Japan.

It paralyzed normal business on the island, as blackouts cut off water to homes, immobilized trains and airports that caused hundreds of flight cancellations, and shut down phone systems.

In the town of Atsuma, where entire hillsides collapsed, rescuers used small backhoes and shovels to search for survivors under the tons of earth that tumbled down steep mountainsides, burying houses and farm buildings below. The area's deep green hills were marred by reddish-brown gashes where the soil tore loose under the violent tremors.

Twenty-eight people remained unaccounted for in the town, Atsuma Mayor Shoichiro Miyasaka told public broadcaster NHK.

"We will carry on searching for them," he said.

Miyasaka said the town had emergency meals for up to 2,000 people and that more than 500 had sought refuge in its emergency shelters.

The landslides ripped through some homes and buried others.

The island's only nuclear power plant, which was offline for routine safety checks, temporarily switched to a backup generator to keep its spent fuel cool. Nuclear regulators said there was no sign of abnormal radiation -- a concern after a quake and tsunami in March 2011 that hit northeast Japan destroyed both external and backup power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said the quake's epicenter was 24 miles deep. But it still wreaked havoc across much of the relatively sparsely inhabited island.

Many roads were closed and some were impassable. NHK showed workers rushing to clean up shattered glass and reinstall ceiling panels that had fallen in the region's biggest airport at Chitose.

The quake came on the heels of a typhoon that lifted heavy trucks off their wheels and triggered major flooding in western Japan, leaving the main airport near Osaka and Kobe closed after a tanker rammed a bridge connecting the facility to the mainland. The summer also brought devastating floods and landslides from torrential rains in Hiroshima and deadly hot temperatures across the country.

Abe said that up to 25,000 troops and other personnel would be dispatched to Hokkaido to help with rescue operations.

As Japan's northern frontier and a major farming region with rugged mountain ranges and vast forests, Hokkaido is an area accustomed to coping with long winters, isolation and other hardships. But the blackouts brought on by the quake underscored the country's heavy reliance on vulnerable power systems: Without electricity, water was cut to many homes, train lines were idled and phone systems out of order.

In the prefectural capital of Sapporo, a city of 1.9 million, the quake ruptured roads and knocked houses askew. A mudslide left several cars half buried. By evening the city's streets were dark and shops closed.

Utilities were starting up several other thermal and hydroelectric plants and power was restored to 340,000 households, but even with those stopgap supplies thousands will still be without electricity for some time.

Authorities sent power generator vehicles to hospitals and other locations and water tanker trucks to communities in Sapporo, where residents were collecting bottles to tide them over until electricity and tap water supplies come back online. Long lines of people waited to charge their cellphones at the city's regional government office.

The quake's impact was widespread. To the north, in the scenic town of Biei, residents lined up outside of supermarkets and convenience stores, quickly clearing shelves of water, toilet paper and food.

"Only a few cartons of instant ramen were left," said Mika Takeda, who lives in the town of 10,000. The one local gas station was limiting customers to only 5 gallons of gas, she said.

Information for this article was contributed by Elaine Kurtenbach of The Associated Press. </s> A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 shook parts of western Honshu early Friday afternoon, but no tsunami warning was issued.

The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake occurred at 2:07 p.m. in central Tottori Prefecture, about 700 km (430 miles) west of Tokyo, at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) underground. It was followed by a weaker aftershock about 30 minutes later.

The agency said there was no danger of a tsunami from the inland temblor.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake.

According to NHK, because of the earthquake West Japan Railway Co. temporarily suspended all services on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line between Shin-Osaka and Hakata stations due to a power outage.

The quake registered lower 6 on the Japanese seismic scale of 7 in parts of Tottori Prefecture, and upper 5 in a wide area in Tottori and Okayama prefectures, according to the agency.

It caused a blackout which affected nearly 40,000 households in Tottori Prefecture, according to Chugoku Electric Power Co.

No abnormalities were detected at the Shimane nuclear plant, which is currently off-line, in nearby Shimane Prefecture, according to the utility.

Okayama airport closed its runway to check its safety, airport officials said.

According to local officials a house in the town of Yurihama, in central Tottori Prefecture, was destroyed, and a number of dwellings in other parts of the prefecture suffered damage. </s> Sapporo, Japan (AP) — A powerful earthquake Thursday on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered dozens of landslides that crushed houses under torrents of dirt, rocks and timber, prompting frantic efforts to unearth any survivors.

At least nine people were killed, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. Officials said at least 366 were injured, five of them seriously, and about 30 people were unaccounted for after the magnitude 6.7 earthquake jolted residents from their beds at 3:08 a.m.

Nearly 3 million households were left without power by the quake — the latest in an exhausting run of natural disasters for Japan.

It paralyzed normal business on the island, as blackouts cut off water to homes, immobilized trains and airports, causing hundreds of flight cancellations, and shut down phone systems.

In the town of Atsuma, where entire hillsides collapsed, rescuers used small backhoes and shovels to search for survivors under the tons of earth that tumbled down steep mountainsides, burying houses and farm buildings below. The area’s deep green hills were marred by reddish-brown gashes where the soil tore loose under the violent tremors.

Twenty-eight people remained unaccounted for in the town, Atsuma Mayor Shoichiro Miyasaka told public broadcaster NHK.

“We will carry on searching for them,” he said.

Miyasaka said the town had emergency meals for up to 2,000 people and that more than 500 had sought refuge in its emergency shelters.

The landslides ripped through some homes and buried others. Some residents described awakening to find their next-door neighbors gone.

“The entire thing just collapsed,” said one. “It’s unbelievable.”

The island’s only nuclear power plant, which was offline for routine safety checks, temporarily switched to a backup generator to keep its spent fuel cool. Nuclear regulators said there was no sign of abnormal radiation — a concern after a massive quake and tsunami in March 2011 that hit northeast Japan destroyed both external and backup power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the quake’s epicenter was 40 kilometers (24 miles) deep. But it still wreaked havoc across much of the relatively sparsely inhabited island.

Many roads were closed and some were impassable. NHK showed workers rushing to clean up shattered glass and reinstall ceiling panels that had fallen in the region’s biggest airport at Chitose.

Japan is used to dealing with disasters, but the last few months have brought a string of calamities. The quake came on the heels of a typhoon that lifted heavy trucks off their wheels and triggered major flooding in western Japan, leaving the main airport near Osaka and Kobe closed after a tanker rammed a bridge connecting the facility to the mainland. The summer also brought devastating floods and landslides from torrential rains in Hiroshima and deadly hot temperatures across the country.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that up to 25,000 troops and other personnel would be dispatched to Hokkaido to help with rescue operations.

As Japan’s northern frontier and a major farming region with rugged mountain ranges and vast forests, Hokkaido is an area accustomed to coping with long winters, isolation and other hardships. But the blackouts brought on by the quake underscored the country’s heavy reliance on vulnerable power systems: without electricity, water was cut to many homes, train lines were idled and phone systems out of order.

In the prefectural capital of Sapporo, a city of 1.9 million, the quake ruptured roads and knocked houses askew. A mudslide left several cars half buried. By evening the city’s streets were dark and shops closed.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters that the extensive power outage was caused by an emergency shutdown of the main thermal power plant at Tomato-Atsuma that supplies half of Hokkaido’s electricity.

The hope had been to get power back up within hours and some electricity was gradually being restored. However, damage to generators at the plant meant that a full restoration of power could take more than a week, Seko said.

Utilities were starting up several other thermal and hydroelectric plants and power was restored to 340,000 households, but even with those stopgap supplies thousands will still be without electricity for some time.

Authorities sent power generator vehicles to hospitals and other locations and water tanker trucks to communities in Sapporo, where residents were collecting bottles to tide them over until electricity and tap water supplies come back online. Long lines of people waited to charge their cellphones at the city’s regional government office.

The quake’s impact was widespread. To the north, in the scenic town of Biei, residents lined up outside of supermarkets and convenience stores, quickly clearing shelves of water, toilet paper and food.

“Only a few cartons of instant ramen were left,” said Mika Takeda, who lives in the town of 10,000. The one local gas station was limiting customers to only 20 liters (5 gallons) of gas, she said. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Japan tsunami waves push river upstream

Japan has lifted the tsunami advisories issued after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit its eastern coast.

The quake struck near Fukushima at about 06:00 local time (21:00 GMT Monday), triggering initial warnings of 3m (9.8ft) high waves. The waves which eventually hit the coast were much smaller.

Thousands were asked to evacuate the area and minor injuries were reported.

An earthquake and tsunami struck the area in 2011 killing 18,000 people.

That quake, one of the most powerful ever recorded, also caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, where a massive clean-up operation is still going on.

How the 2011 quake is still felt in Japan

Officials have said there is no sign of damage to the plant this time.

Image copyright AP Image caption Miyagi prefecture police released a video showing water flowing up the Sunaoshi River as a result of the waves hitting the coast

The US Geological Survey initially put the magnitude at 7.3 but later downgraded this to 6.9, lower than the number given by the Japanese authorities.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said in its latest update that no tsunami damage is expected, although there may be slight changes to the sea level.

The agency has also said the latest tremor was an aftershock of the 2011 quake.

A spokesman quoted by Japan Times said the area was still generating at least one earthquake of 7.0 magnitude or more each year.

Heading for higher ground

The depth of Tuesday's quake was estimated to be 30km (18.6 miles), the JMA said.

Image copyright EPA Image caption The agency said seismic activities had continued for years after the 2011 earthquake in Fukushima

Strong tremors could be felt as far away as the capital, Tokyo, 100 miles south of Fukushima prefecture. Buildings in the capital shook for at least 30 seconds.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Japanese broadcaster NHK World reported that people should evacuate immediately

The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says tens of thousands of people have heeded evacuation warnings and headed for higher ground.

Ships could be seen moving away from harbours in Fukushima prefecture and car manufacturer Nissan suspended work at its Fukushima engine factory.

A 1m wave hit the coastline near the Fukushima nuclear power plant, but Cabinet Chief Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a televised news conference that "there was no problem".

All reactors were shut down in 2011, but cooling is still needed for the used nuclear fuel stored on the site.

Mr Suga said the water cooling system on the third reactor had stopped working, but there were no signs of further damage or abnormalities.

Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the plant, later said it had restarted the cooling system, and reported only small temperature increases, within safety limits.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The evacuation order caused early morning traffic jams

A wave of 60cm (2ft) arrived in Onahama Port in Fukushima, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, and another of 90cm in Soma.

There so far appears to have been only minimal damage, and our correspondent says tsunami defences rebuilt since 2011 have ensured that waves have not caused flooding nor damage.

Japan lies in a particularly seismically active region and accounts for around 20% of quakes worldwide of magnitude 6.0 or more.

At least 50 people died in two quakes in the southern Kumamoto prefecture in April.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The tsunami warning was issued for an area including the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant

Meanwhile, an earthquake of 5.6 magnitude and 30km depth hit an area 200km north east of the New Zealand capital, Wellington. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Hugh Glanville told New Zealand's Stuff news website that the quakes "are not directly related".

"One did not cause the other, but are both a result of shifts in the Pacific plate," he said.

Have you been affected by the earthquake? If it is safe to do so, you can share your experience by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: </s> SAPPORO, Japan >> A powerful earthquake Thursday on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered dozens of landslides that crushed houses under torrents of dirt, rocks and timber, prompting frantic efforts to unearth any survivors.

At least nine people were killed, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. Officials said at least 366 were injured, five of them seriously, and about 30 people were unaccounted for after the magnitude 6.7 earthquake jolted residents from their beds at 3:08 a.m.

Nearly 3 million households were left without power by the quake — the latest in an exhausting run of natural disasters for Japan.

It paralyzed normal business on the island, as blackouts cut off water to homes, immobilized trains and airports, causing hundreds of flight cancellations, and shut down phone systems.

In the town of Atsuma, where entire hillsides collapsed, rescuers used small backhoes and shovels to search for survivors under the tons of earth that tumbled down steep mountainsides, burying houses and farm buildings below. The area’s deep green hills were marred by reddish-brown gashes where the soil tore loose under the violent tremors.

Twenty-eight people remained unaccounted for in the town, Atsuma Mayor Shoichiro Miyasaka told public broadcaster NHK.

“We will carry on searching for them,” he said.

Miyasaka said the town had emergency meals for up to 2,000 people and that more than 500 had sought refuge in its emergency shelters.

The landslides ripped through some homes and buried others. Some residents described awakening to find their next-door neighbors gone.

“The entire thing just collapsed,” said one. “It’s unbelievable.”

The island’s only nuclear power plant, which was offline for routine safety checks, temporarily switched to a backup generator to keep its spent fuel cool. Nuclear regulators said there was no sign of abnormal radiation — a concern after a massive quake and tsunami in March 2011 that hit northeast Japan destroyed both external and backup power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the quake’s epicenter was 24 miles deep. But it still wreaked havoc across much of the relatively sparsely inhabited island.

Many roads were closed and some were impassable. NHK showed workers rushing to clean up shattered glass and reinstall ceiling panels that had fallen in the region’s biggest airport at Chitose.

Japan is used to dealing with disasters, but the last few months have brought a string of calamities. The quake came on the heels of a typhoon that lifted heavy trucks off their wheels and triggered major flooding in western Japan, leaving the main airport near Osaka and Kobe closed after a tanker rammed a bridge connecting the facility to the mainland. The summer also brought devastating floods and landslides from torrential rains in Hiroshima and deadly hot temperatures across the country.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that up to 25,000 troops and other personnel would be dispatched to Hokkaido to help with rescue operations.

As Japan’s northern frontier and a major farming region with rugged mountain ranges and vast forests, Hokkaido is an area accustomed to coping with long winters, isolation and other hardships. But the blackouts brought on by the quake underscored the country’s heavy reliance on vulnerable power systems: without electricity, water was cut to many homes, train lines were idled and phone systems out of order.

In the prefectural capital of Sapporo, a city of 1.9 million, the quake ruptured roads and knocked houses askew. A mudslide left several cars half buried. By evening the city’s streets were dark and shops closed.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters that the extensive power outage was caused by an emergency shutdown of the main thermal power plant at Tomato-Atsuma that supplies half of Hokkaido’s electricity.

The hope had been to get power back up within hours and some electricity was gradually being restored. However, damage to generators at the plant meant that a full restoration of power could take more than a week, Seko said.

Utilities were starting up several other thermal and hydroelectric plants and power was restored to 340,000 households, but even with those stopgap supplies thousands will still be without electricity for some time.

Authorities sent power generator vehicles to hospitals and other locations and water tanker trucks to communities in Sapporo, where residents were collecting bottles to tide them over until electricity and tap water supplies come back online. Long lines of people waited to charge their cellphones at the city’s regional government office.

The quake’s impact was widespread. To the north, in the scenic town of Biei, residents lined up outside of supermarkets and convenience stores, quickly clearing shelves of water, toilet paper and food.

“Only a few cartons of instant ramen were left,” said Mika Takeda, who lives in the town of 10,000. The one local gas station was limiting customers to only 5 gallons of gas, she said. </s> An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 hit northern Japan on Tuesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, issuing tsunami alerts for much of the nation’s northern Pacific coast.

The epicentre of the earthquake, which was felt in Tokyo, was off the coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of about 10km (six miles), the agency added.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injury, which struck at almost 9pm Irish time.

Tokyo Electric Power Co was checking its nuclear plants in Fukushima for damage, said public broadcaster NHK. The utility was not immediately available for comment.

Tohoku Electric Power Co said there was no damage to its Onagawa nuclear plant.

Television footage showed ships moving out to sea from Fukushima harbours as the meteorological agency warned of a tsunami of 3m (10ft) for Fukushima, where Tepco’s Daiichi nuclear plant was devastated in a March 2011 quake and tsunami.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

The March 11th, 2011, quake was magnitude 9, the strongest quake in Japan on record. The massive tsunami it triggered caused the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, a quarter of a century earlier.

The US Geological Survey initially put Tuesday’s quake at a magnitude of 7.3 but have since downgraded it to 6.9.

All nuclear plants on the coast threatened by the tsunami were shut down in the wake of the Fukushima disaster. Only two reactors are operating in Japan, both in the southwest of the country.

Even when in shutdown mode, nuclear plants need cooling systems operating to keep spent fuel cool. </s> TOKYO (AP) - The Latest on the powerful earthquake in northern Japan (all times local):

Japan’s nuclear regulator says external power has been restored at a nuclear power plant’s three reactors after a powerful quake on Hokkaido knocked out electricity across the northern island.

The three reactors at the Tomari plant had switched to emergency backup generators to keep spent fuel safely cooled. The Nuclear Regulation Authority says there’s no abnormality at the plant.

The restoration of power at the plant, however, won’t help restore electricity for the rest of Hokkaido as the reactors are offline for regular safety checks following the magnitude 6.7 quake.

The loss of external power briefly raised concerns because it brought back memories of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdowns that were triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami that destroyed power and key cooling systems.

The main railway company on the quake-hit northern Japanese island of Hokkaido says all trains have stopped due to power outage.

Hokkaido Railway Co. says high-speed bullet and all local trains on the island are halted. The company says it cannot update information on the social media due to the blackout.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido early Thursday morning, knocking out power to nearly 3 million households. The outage also affected subways, power plants and hospitals.

Trade, Economy and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko says damage at the main thermal power plant is delaying power restoration and that utility officials are rushing to get several other thermal and hydroelectric plants working to at least deliver some electricity within a day or two.

Japan’s economy minister says damage from a powerful earthquake at the main thermal plant has delayed the restoration of power on the main northernmost island of Hokkaido for more than a week.

Nearly 3 million households are without electricity across the island after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido early Thursday.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko initially instructed utility officials to restore power at the Tomato Atsuma thermal plant “within a few hours.” But Seko says the plan is now impossible due to damage.

Officials are trying to start up several other thermal and hydroelectric plants to get at least some power back on the island. Seko says the government is also arranging additional power supply from the mainland and sending power generating vehicles to hospitals.

This item corrects the spelling of the plant.

A Japanese government spokesman says two people have been confirmed dead after a powerful earthquake rocked the northern main island of Hokkaido.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the search was ongoing for those missing after the quake triggered dozens of landslides in the mountainous region near the epicenter. The magnitude 6.7 earthquake on Hokkaido early Thursday morning also knocked out power across the northern island.

Aerial footage showed slashes of brown earth on many heavily forested mountains, crushed homes and farm buildings and roads buried by avalanches of mud, logs and other debris.

The Japanese national broadcaster NHK is reporting that 125 people have been injured and about 20 are feared missing after a powerful quake triggered dozens of landslides in heavily forested mountains on the northern main island of Hokkaido.

The magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido early Thursday morning. Power was knocked out across the island.

The government said airports and many roads on the island were closed following the quake.

Officials said that 25,000 troops and other personnel were being dispatched to the area to help with rescue operations.

Japan’s minister for the economy, trade and industry Hiroshige Seko told reporters that efforts are underway to try to restore power in Hokkaido.

Nearly 3 million households over a widespread area are without electricity after a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido at 3:08 a.m. Thursday (18:08 GMT Wednesday) at the depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles).

Seko said the government plans to use power from the area’s four hydroelectric plants as all the area’s fossil fuel power plants aren’t working.

Places like hospitals will get priority, he said, noting he hoped to get power back “within a few hours.”

Power is still out at the area’s Tomari nuclear plant, but backup diesel generators have kicked in so the reactors’ fuel is continuing to be kept cool, according to the government nuclear authorities. The plant has also shut down.

A powerful earthquake hit wide areas on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido early Thursday, triggering landslides as well as causing the loss of power at nearly all of 3 million households and a nuclear power plant to go on a backup generator.

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck southern Hokkaido at 3:08 a.m. Thursday (1808 GMT Wednesday) at the depth of 40 kilometers (24 miles), Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.

The quake’s epicenter was east of the city of Tomakomai. It also struck Hokkaido’s prefectural capital of Sapporo, with a population of 1.9 million.

This story has been corrected to say the name of the thermal plant is Tomato Atsuma not Tomato Azuma.
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake off Japan's Fukushima Prefecture injures 15 people, and triggers a 1 meter tsunami that causes a temporary power disruption at Fukushima Daini Nuclear Power Plant.