Dozens of earthquakes have occurred in Japan on Monday, at least 13 people died and many are injured in a powerful earthquake that occurred in the Noto Peninsula on the northwest coast of Japan. Hundreds of houses have been damaged and roads have been washed away and thousands of people are forced to live in darkness.
Fire spread to 100 houses, hundreds of buildings collapsed
Government news channel NHK has informed that firefighters were busy extinguishing the fire that had spread to 100 houses and buildings in Wajima city due to the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Monday. Residents were asked to remain alert for the possibility of a tsunami along almost the entire length of Japan’s coastline, although the major tsunami warning was lifted.
Government channel NHK said that till Tuesday morning 13 people have been confirmed dead. So far, the highest tsunami recorded after the earthquake was 1.2 meters or 4 feet in Wajima. Residents in large parts of the area about 315 kilometers (195 miles) northwest of Tokyo have been asked to move to higher ground away from the coast and remain there until the warning is lifted.
33,000 houses immersed in darkness
Some train services have also been canceled due to the earthquake, power plants have been closed due to safety reasons, an airport runway has also been closed due to uprooted roads. Mobile phone services have also been affected. According to Hokuriku Electric, about 33,000 homes were without electricity as of Tuesday morning. The earthquake affected many power plants in the area. Coal-fired units at Hokuriku Electric Power Co.’s Nanao Ohta Power Plant were shut down due to the earthquake, causing the loss of about 1.2 gigawatts of capacity, according to the Japan Electric Power Exchange website.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters late Monday night that he would call a meeting of an emergency disaster control taskforce on Tuesday. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said in a statement that no abnormalities were found at nuclear power plants in the region.
