Powerful quake hits north Japan

A powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 has hit Japan's northern island of Honshu.



The quake's epicentre was very deep, but it still caused panic, with initial reports detailing injuries as well as some material damage and power cuts.

A number of cars have been being buried in a landslide, local television reports, and one hospital says it is treating 13 injured people.

The tremor also caused traffic disruption, with motorways closed and train services cancelled.

The earthquake, which struck at 0030 local time (1530GMT) on Thursday, was centred 120km (75 miles) underground in the Iwate prefecture, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. It was felt as far away as Tokyo, some 500km (310 miles) to the south.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda called on officials to "do their best" to rescue anyone trapped by the earthquake.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries and experiences thousands of tremors each year.

_{bron: bbc news}

Aardbeving maakt 43 gewonden in Japan

In het noorden van Japan zijn 43 mensen gewond geraakt bij een zware aardbeving. Die leidde ook tot heel wat schade. De aardbeving vond plaats voor de kust van Iwate, een dun bevolkte streek op 550 kilometer ten noorden van de hoofdstad Tokio. De beving had een kracht van 6,9 op de schaal van Richter.

Op een aantal plaatsen waren er aardverschuivingen en is er sprake van schade aan woningen. Meer dan 6.000 gezinnen zitten zonder stroom. In de streek zijn ook de treinverbindingen een tijdje stilgelegd. De maatschappijen wilden eerst de sporen controleren vooraleer de treinen opnieuw te laten rijden.

Toch valt de schade al bij al nogal mee omdat woningen en wegeninfrastructuur in Japan opgewassen moeten zijn tegen forse aardschokken.

Vorig jaar vielen er nochtans 12 doden bij een zware aardbeving in het noorden van Japan.

_{©De Redactie}

Aftershock strikes northern Japan

A moderate aftershock measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale has hit northern Japan, hours after a powerful earthquake, meteorologists said. The aftershock, 120 kilometres deep, struck at 11:28am (local time) in Iwate prefecture on the north of the country's main island of Honshu, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It was the first aftershock that could be felt since the 6.8 Richter scale earthquake that hit the region shortly after midnight, which injured more than 100 people, an agency official said.

Japan experiences some 20 per cent of the world's major earthquakes. A strong tremor in the same region a month ago left 23 people dead or missing.

_{Bron: ABC}

Japan recovers from strong quake

A clean-up operation is under way in northern Japan, after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck early on Thursday, injuring more than 100 people. Most services have been restored, though disruption to train services is still reported and some smaller roads remain blocked by landslides.

Military helicopters are scouring the region for trapped quake victims, but no deaths have yet been reported. Experts said the depth of the quake had prevented more serious casualties. Despite such a powerful earthquake, the damage was minimum because the epicentre was so deep, Ryohei Morimoto, geologist and emeritus professor of geology at Tokyo University, told AP news agency.

The earthquake is the latest in a series of tremors to hit the north of the main Japanese island of Honshu. Its epicentre was more than 100km (62 miles) underground.

Broken bones
The earthquake struck just after midnight on Thursday (Wednesday 1500 GMT) in Iwate prefecture, shattering windows and triggering landslides. It was felt more than 450km to the south-west, in the capital, Tokyo - startling Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in his bedroom.

At least 109 people were injured, 16 seriously, according to the National Police Agency. Several people suffered broken bones as they were thrown to the floor.

Pictures showed large boulders strewn across a highway.



Military aircraft have been ordered to check the region for possible trapped survivors, but were being hampered by fog and light rain.

Gravestones toppled
There were no reports of deaths or people buried alive, said government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura. But the prime minister has ordered us to continue checking. At a temple in the city of Hachinohe, the quake toppled gravestones, breaking some and prompting residents to rush to try to repair the damage.



No damage was reported to any nearby nuclear power stations. Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries and experiences thousands of tremors each year.

Just over a month ago, a 7.2-magnitude quake struck in the same region, leaving 23 people dead or missing.

_©BBC