UPDATE: 5:41 p.m. EDT—Following a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan, on Wednesday, public broadcaster NHK shared footage of a massive landslide in the town of Atsuma. NHK said "a large number of houses were crushed" by the landslide, though it was unclear whether there were any injuries or deaths.
In the town of Atsuma, a large number of houses at the foot of a long ridge were crushed by massive landslides and road were buckled and broken. NHK WORLD-JAPAN is LIVE streaming the Hokkaido earthquake updates. https://t.co/QbGNxwoMjt pic.twitter.com/y8Pz6hs4Yb
— NHK WORLD News (@NHKWORLD_News) September 5, 2018
Original story:
A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit four miles from Atsuma, Hokkaido, Japan, on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey confirmed. The earthquake hit around 3:00 a.m. local time at a depth of 33.4 kilometers, southeast of Sapporo, the regional capital.
A blackout was reported across Hokkaido following the earthquake, and the city of Abashiri asked residents to conserve water while the power was out. It appeared that the quake also triggered a large landslide in the town of Atsuma, The Japan Times reported.
The earthquake also caused buildings to collapse, according to Agence France-Presse, though it was unclear how severe the damage was. Public broadcaster NHK reported there were some people trapped in collapsed structures. It was not immediately clear whether there were any injuries or deaths. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami warning in effect following the quake.
"There are risks of landslides and homes collapsing," a Japan Meteorological Agency official said in a press conference, according to The Japan Times. "Please don't go anywhere deemed dangerous."
A magnitude 7 earthquake is characterized as major, sudden and severe earthquake, occurring every 50 years in a population.
Japan was just hit by Typhoon Jebi, the strongest such storm to affect the region in 25 years. Jebi killed 11 people and injured another 600, The New York Times reported. Parts of Japan were flooded, triggering widespread evacuation orders.
