Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Nigata Earthquake

This morning a quake hit the Nigata prefecture on the north west coast of Japan. Reports are coming in now of a lesser quake that has just struck in the northern island of Hokkaido.

The Nigata quake has so far claimed 7 lives and there are over 800 injured. In the worst hit areas many houses on the same street have collapsed.

The youtube video shows reports from the T.V with amateur translations. There was a fire at one of the nuclear power stations in the area which current news reports as being an electricity conversion building on the site, and which also reports no risk of radiation contamination. The fire was put out about 2 hours and 45 mins after it was reported.

The video also shows the current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who is now campaigning for re-election. Abe visited many of the emergency shelters in the area.

Edit:

17/07 am This report (in English) claims that water containing radioactive material did leak from the nuclear plant. Related reports on the site give updates.

No comments: