Scores hurt as powerful quake hits Japan

A powerful earthquake rattled northern Japan, injuring more than 100 people, triggering landslides and cutting power to thousands of households.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency said the yesterday’s temblor, which had a preliminary magnitude of 6.8, struck shortly after midnight, local time, at a depth of about 65 miles near the coast of Iwate, 280 miles north east of Tokyo.

Most of the injuries were cuts and bruises from broken glass and falling objects. None was life threatening, said a National Police Agency spokesman.

The earthquake caused strong shaking of up to 40 seconds in many areas of northern Japan, witnesses said.

“Everything has fallen off the shelves, scattered all over the floor,” grocery store owner Tomio Kudo told national broadcaster NHK from the town of Hirono, where the shaking was most violent. “Even a big refrigerator has moved about 30 centimetres (1ft).”

Japan’s Kyodo News agency said 127 people were injured, citing its own tally.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake is capable of causing serious, widespread damage.

Several nuclear power plants in the region, including a controversial nuclear recycling plant in the village of Rokkasho, continued operations after inspection by plant workers found no problems, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said.

The quake caused a blackout at more than 8,000 homes, it said.

Japan’s “bullet” super-express trains were suspended in some areas, according to operator East Japan Railway Company

The earthquake also triggered landslides at several locations, the police agency official said. Details were not immediately available.

Relief workers and local officials hit the streets to take a closer look to the affected areas by daylight. A team of government officials headed by disaster minister Shinya Izumi also arrived in Iwate.

“We must grasp the extent of damage as quickly as possible so that we can immediately take necessary steps,” prime minister Yasuo Fukuda said.

Police said some of the more serious injuries included a woman in Hirono who broke a leg falling down stairs and another woman in Aomori city who broke her hip jumping out of a window.

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.

Last month, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck sparsely populated rural areas in northern Japan, killing at least 12 people, leaving 10 others missing and injuring more than 300.

Meteorological Agency official Takashi Yokota warned of possible aftershocks from the quake.