Second night in shelters for quake city's residents
Traumatised townspeople huddled in evacuation centres after an earthquake flattened homes and battered a nuclear power plant in the Japanese city of Kashiwazaki.
The city is notoriously vulnerable to seismic disasters and home to one of the world’s largest atomic generators.
As more than 8,000 residents settled down for their second night in shelters, the death toll – nine, with one missing – was not expected to rise significantly.
Most of the newer parts of town had escaped major damage. But concerns over safety procedures at the nuclear power plant, and officials’ belated acknowledgement of everything from water leaks to burst pipes, reached all the way to the prime minister’s office.
“They raised the alert too late. I have sent stern instructions that such alerts must be raised seriously and swiftly,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters in Tokyo. “Those involved should repent their actions.”
Kashiwazaki Kariwa is the world’s largest nuclear plant in terms of power output capacity. Japan’s 55 reactors supply about 30% of the nation’s electricity, but Japan’s dependence on nuclear power is coupled with deep misgivings over safety.
The power plant suffered burst pipes, water leaks and radioactive waste spillage when it was hit by the earthquake, the plant’s operator announced today.
Signs of problems first came not from the officials, but in a plume of smoke that rose up when the quake triggered a small fire at an electrical transformer.
It was announced only 12 hours later that the temblor also caused a leak of some 1.2 cubic metres – or 1,200 litres – of water containing radioactive material.
Officials said the water leak was well within safety standards. The water was flushed into the sea.
Later today, they said a total of 50 cases of “malfunctioning and trouble” had been found. Four of the plant’s seven reactors were running at the time of the quake, and they were all shut down automatically by the plant’s anti-quake safety mechanism.
Officials said there was no harm to the environment, but acknowledged that it took a day to discover 100 drums containing low-level nuclear waste that had been overturned, some with the lids open.
Kensuke Takeuchi, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which runs the plant, called the malfunctions “minor troubles”.
Across town, as night fell today, fire crews and soldiers dug their way through shopping arcades, residential neighbourhoods and temples that were flattened by the tremor, which registered a magnitude of 6.6 yesterday morning.
For the residents, thousands of whom work at the plant, the controversy over its safety compounded already severe problems, which included heavy rains and the threat of landslides, water and power cuts, and patchy communications.
“Whenever there is an earthquake, the first thing we worry about is the nuclear plant. I worry about whether there will be a fire or something,” said Kiyokazu Tsunajima, a tailor who sat outside on his porch with his family, afraid an aftershock might collapse his damaged house.
“It’s frightening, but I guess we are used to it,” said Ikuko Sato, a young mother who was spending the night in a packed evacuation centre near her home, which still stood but was left without water or power.
“It’s almost the summer swimming season,” she said. “I wonder if it’ll be safe to go in the water.”
The area around Kashiwazaki was hit by a powerful earthquake three years ago that killed 67 people. The plant suffered no damage in that quake.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari told Tepco it must not resume operations at the plant until it has made a thorough safety check. Nuclear power plants around the country were ordered to conduct inspections.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency put the quake’s magnitude at 6.8, while the US Geological Survey said it was 6.7.
It hit at 10:13am (1.13am GMT) off the coast of Niigata, 160 miles north-west of Tokyo.
Nearly 13,000 people packed into evacuation centres in the quake zone 160 miles north-west of Tokyo, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. By nightfall, that had dropped to about 8,200.
Nine people in their 70s or 80s were killed and 47 were seriously injured.
Some 450 soldiers to sent to clear rubble, search for any survivors under collapsed buildings and provide food, water and toilet facilities.
About 50,000 homes were without water and 35,000 were without gas as of this morning, local official Mitsugu Abe said and 27,000 households were without power.
