A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.7 on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido caused a landslide that engulfed houses early on Thursday, injuring and trapping a number of people and cutting power in several areas.
A landslide along a long ridge in the rural town of Atsumi could be seen in aerial footage from public broadcaster NHK. Some 10 people had been taken to hospital with injuries, one of them serious, it said.
There were widespread power outages and blocked roads, NHK said, but no early reports of deaths. A man suffered cardiac arrest after falling down the stairs, local media reported.
The quake, which struck at 3:08 a.m. posed no tsunami risk, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The US Geological Survey said it struck some 68 km southeast of Sapporo, Hokkaido's main city.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, arriving at his office before 6 am, told reporters his government had set up a command centre to coordinate relief and rescue. His voice sounding haggard, Abe said saving lives was his government's top priority.
The Tomari Nuclear Power Station suffered a power outage but was cooling its fuel rods safely with emergency power, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga. Operator Hokkaido Electric Power Co reported no radiation irregularities at the plant, which has been shut since shortly after a massive 2011 earthquake, Suga told a news conference.
A fire broke out at a Mitsubishi Steel Mfg Co plant in the city of Muroran but has largely been brought under control, NHK said, quoting local officials.
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