Japan, situated on the “Ring of Fire” arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, accounts for about 20 per cent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
The magnitude 6.7 earthquake on Hokkaido early Thursday morning also knocked out power across the northern island.
At least two people were killed and 32 were missing after a powerful earthquake paralyzed the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday, triggering landslides and knocking out power to its 5.3 million residents.
The entire island was without power after Hokkaido Electric Power Co said it conducted an emergency shutdown of all its fossil fuel-fired power plants following the quake.
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.
Three reactors at the Tomari Nuclear Power Station were offline, but they were running on back-up generators after losing external power, Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said a man was found without vital signs in Tomakomai, and several people were reported missing in the nearby town of Atsuma.
New Chitose Airport, the nation’s fifth busiest airport by passenger volume, will be shut on Thursday, Kyodo news agency reported.
Hokkaido Railway Co cancelled all trains, including bullet trains, and is uncertain when services will resume, NHK said.Several people were reported missing in the nearby town of Atsuma, where a massive landslide engulfed homes.
The powerful earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 that hit northeast Japan destroyed both external and backup power to the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that 25,000 troops and other personnel were being dispatched to the area to help with rescue operations.
