Japan Rocked by Powerful Earthquake; Aftershocks

At least seven killed, 800 injured, and thousands homeless.

Image: USGS

(TOKYO) - At least seven people died and more than 800 others were injured when a powerful earthquake struck the north-west coast of Japan Monday morning, sparking a blaze at the world's biggest nuclear power station and flattening dozens of buildings.

The quake, measured 6.8 on the Richter scale, and rocked towns in Niigata prefecture on the Japan Sea coast at 10:13 AM, triggering a tsunami warning that was later lifted, reports said.

Japan yesterday began cleaning up after being battered for three days by Typhoon Man-Yi, which caused three deaths, injured hundreds of people and disrupted air and rail transport.

Many offices in Japan are closed today for Marine Day, a national holiday.

Radioactive water leaked from a nuclear reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power plant in Niigata because of the earthquake, Tokyo Electric Power Co. told the Kyodo news service.

The leak occurred at the plant's No. 6 reactor, which had automatically shut down when the tremors began, the company said.

Over 21,000 households in Niigata prefecture were without power, the Trade Ministry said in an e- mailed statement.

Supply of natural gas, a typical cooking fuel in Japan, was cut to 34,000 houses, the statement said.

More than 7,000 people in the quake-affected region have left their homes for evacuation centers, according to NHK, the Japan Public Broadcaster.