A powerful aftershock rocked Japan’s tsunami zone yesterday, killing at least two and triggering new concerns over nuclear power plants in a region still grappling with an atomic emergency.
Electricity was cut across a huge area of northern Japan, forcing cooling systems at three nuclear plants to switch to emergency power, and as of yesterday night, nearly 24 hours later, more than 600,000 households remained without power.
At least one backup supply remained online at all three plants, but the 7.1-magnitude aftershock highlighted the potential risks of nuclear generation in an earthquake zone amid a battle to stabilise reactors at the tsunami-hit Fukushima plant.
Officials at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said two people had been killed, and reports suggested another two might have died in the tremor.
The quake struck off the coast near Sendai - one of the most powerful to hit Japan since the country’s worst post-war disaster four weeks ago.
Thursday’s quake swayed buildings in the capital Tokyo, more than 300 kilometres away from the epicentre, and generated unease even well away from the coast, where a tsunami warning was briefly issued.
In the town of Kitakami, northwest of the epicentre, an AFP reporter witnessed queues forming at convenience stores as people tried to stock up anew on food, water and batteries.
“It was so scary,” said Kazuyuki Shiroiwa, who had been to four shops in central Kitakami in a vain effort to find batteries.
“The midnight quake reminded me of the fear I felt a month ago,” he said. “I’m fed up with earthquakes. No more quakes, please.”
Workers battling to control the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on the northeast coast were ordered to evacuate temporarily but have since returned, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) said.
The evacuation order came less than 24 hours after the workers began pumping nitrogen, an inert gas, into reactor No. 1, where engineers were concerned a build-up of hydrogen might react with oxygen to cause an explosion.
Work at the plant was remotely controlled and had continued uninterrupted, the company said.