The earthquake affected Japan’s northernmost Hokkaido, engulfing homes in landslides, causing roads to crack, and cutting power to all 2.95 million homes in the prefecture, Straits Times reported.
Hokkaido was hit by a powerful 6.7-magnitude earthquake early Thursday morning, just one day after Typhoon Jebi tore through Osaka. These are the latest in a string of natural calamities to hit Japan this year.
The earthquake affected Japan’s northernmost Hokkaido, engulfing homes in landslides, causing roads to crack, and cutting power to all 2.95 million homes in the prefecture, Straits Times reported.
The precise number of casualties in Hokkaido remains unclear, but at least 20 people are missing and 120 people injured, including 87 in capital city Sapporo alone.
The region was affected by a 6.7 magnitude tremor, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
The New Chitose Airport, which serves Sapporo, closed on Thursday due to the power outage and extensive structural damage with burst water pipes and collapsed wall panels.
Shinkansen bullet train services connecting Aomori, the northernmost prefecture on Japan’s main island, to Hakodate, the southernmost city on Hokkaido, have also been temporarily halted.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in convening an Emergency Response Headquarters meeting, said 25,000 Self-Defence Force (SDF) personnel would be activated for relief operations.
The JMA has warned of the possibility of aftershocks of a similar intensity for the next week.
Meanwhile, Typhoon Jebi that struck the Kansai region on Tuesday has left at least 11 dead and 600 injured, flooding the Kansai Airport and forcing a shutdown for at least a week. The typhoon is the most powerful to hit the country in 25 years.
More than 200 flights for Wednesday were cancelled, affecting more than 30,000 travellers, and thousands had to be evacuated in high-speed boats after a tanker smashed into a bridge linking the mainland of Osaka prefecture with the airport, which sits on a man-made island and is a major transport hub serving western Japan, South China Morning Post reported.
Domestic flights are due to resume on Friday, with international flights to follow “as soon as possible”.
The latest disasters prolong a terrible year for Japan. More than 300 people died in July from weather-related disasters. Authorities say at least 220 people were killed early in the month by severe flooding and landslides in western Japan. That was followed by record temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The heat was blamed for 116 deaths.