The Hindu : International : Quakes wreak havoc in Japan; toll 20

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 25, 2004

International

International

Quakes wreak havoc in Japan; toll 20

OJIYA (JAPAN), OCT. 24. Military helicopters evacuated earthquake victims from devastated villages and traumatised residents huddled in shelters and salvaged belongings from flattened homes on Sunday after a string of earthquakes in northern Japan killed at least 20 persons and injured 1,500 others. Four people were believed missing.

A 6.8-magnitude quake centred in Ojiya, about 260 km northwest of Tokyo, rocked the area on Saturday evening, knocking a bullet train from its rails, ripping through roadways and rattling buildings as far away as the Japanese capital. Several strong quakes followed through the night, and aftershocks continued to jolt the area on Sunday.

The disaster was the deadliest quake in Japan since a massive tremor struck the western city of Kobe in January 1995 and killed more than 6,000 people.

Tens of thousands of rural residents — many of them elderly — were evacuated from flattened homes to emergency shelters. Officials handed out blankets to guard against chilly nights and flew in bottled water since most utility services were cut off in the quake zone.

Bullet trains derail

Japan's military used helicopters to airlift stranded villagers from a riverside hamlet, Shiotani, that was cut off when the bridge connecting it to Ojiya was toppled. Several other villages were isolated, including Yamagoshi, a mountain village of 600, where a landslide swept away the only road and upended homes and cars. Residents awaited airlifted food and other supplies.

The injured overwhelmed small local hospitals, where patients were being treated in the hallways. Electricity was cut off to nearly 300,000 homes, highways were ripped in half and overpasses toppled by the force of the quakes.

The bullet train derailment was the first since such trains began running in Japan in 1964.

Aftershocks were a clear concern. Despite the destruction, the areas hit were in largely rural Niigata prefecture, sparing Japan the much larger death toll had the quakes struck a major city. But the area was still dangerous on Sunday. Japan's Meteorological Agency registered 244 aftershocks — most too weak to be felt — following the big quake, and warned that another temblor of similar power could rip across the region over the next week.

Japan, which rests atop several tectonic plates, is among the world's most earthquake-prone countries.

A magnitude-6 quake can cause widespread damage to homes and other buildings if centred in a heavily populated area. — AP

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