At least six persons were killed and over 200 injured when a powerful earthquake jolted northern Japan on Saturday, triggering landslides, disrupting rail and road transport and affecting at least one nuclear plant.
The quake measuring 7.2 on Richter scale rocked the Miyagi Prefecture, around 350 km north of here, and Iwate Prefecture at 8.43 AM (local time), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
About 290 people including tourists were stranded in various areas while nearly 30,000 households were left without power, officials said.
Police said five people had died, at least 10 remain missing and more than 200 others were injured, state broadcaster NHK reported. However, local media reports put the death toll at six.
Nuclear power plants in Miyagi and neighboring Fukushima prefectures were operating normally, Kyodo news agency reported .
However, Tokyo Electric said it had found that nearly 15 liters of wastewater containing radioactive substances had spilled out of a pool inside the premises of the Fukushima No 2 plant it operates.
But that the spill should not pose any danger to human health or the environment, it claimed.
{{/usCountry}}But that the spill should not pose any danger to human health or the environment, it claimed.
{{/usCountry}}Japan Meteorological Agency said it had recorded over 140 aftershocks after the morning temblor.
In Kurihara, seven people, including two tourists, were trapped in debris at a resort, police said while three other workers were missing after a landslide at a construction site.