Japan's Hokkaido still reeling a week after deadly quake

Source: Xinhua| 2018-09-13 21:12:14|Editor: xuxin
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TOKYO, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- One week after a fatal earthquake killed over 40 people and injured hundreds of others in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, around 1,600 people remained in evacuation shelters Thursday with power shortages still blighting the region.

The predawn 6.7-magnitude quake, which measured the maximum 7 on Japan's seismic intensity scale, triggered devastating landslides in Atsuma town, where at least 220 buildings were affected by the temblor along with roads and farms.

According to the Hokkaido government, around 1,650 households in Hokkaido were still without water supply. It could take as long as a month until a stable supply of water was restored, the government said.

Hokkaido's Tomatoatsuma thermal power plant was damaged by the quake, forcing other plants to come to an emergency halt, resulting in major blackouts.

Hokkaido Electric Power Co. said the plant was still undergoing recovery work and the utility was using multiple facilities to try and power the prefecture.

Initially, almost 3 million households had their power cut off, but as energy supply continued to be resumed, prefectural officials were still urging households and businesses to reduce their energy consumption by 20 percent, particularly in peak times, to avoid rolling blackouts.

This reduction of electricity consumption could last until the end of the week, the utility said.

As hundreds of aftershocks, some with a magnitude of over 5.0, continue to shake the island prefecture, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government will designate the Hokkaido quake as an extremely severe natural disaster.

In doing so, emergency funds for financial support and reconstruction efforts can be released more quickly.

Abe has instructed his Cabinet ministers to draw up plans focusing on rebuilding the livelihoods of the people of Hokkaido and supporting its major tourist and dairy farming industries.

Last week's strong earthquake marked the first time a quake in Hokkaido has reached the intensity level of 7 on Japan's seismic scale since the scale was revised in 1996, Japan's weather agency said.

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