INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Tens of thousands of Japanese households remained without power on Thursday morning, more than 10 hours after a powerful earthquake that
left at least four dead and more than 100 injured, and severed transport links to the country&s northeast, Reuters reported.Companies
including a giant chipmaker and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) raced to assess the impact of the magnitude 7.4 quake, which struck shortly
before midnight on Wednesday
Supply chain disruptions could put more pressure on already strained global output of smartphones, electronics and automobiles, read the
report.The temblor revived memories of the March 11, 2011 disaster in the same area, and left Shinkansen bullet train service indefinitely
suspended, with at least one major highway to the region closed for safety checks.According to Reuters parts of building facades tumbled
into streets below in some areas, and television footage showed a steep tiled roof crumpled over a parked, crushed car and workers examining
cracked highways.Areas of Tokyo lost power immediately after the quake, though most regained it within three hours.But some 24,270
households serviced by Tohoku Electric Power Co (9506.T) in northeast Japan remained without electricity by 10:00 a.m
local time (0100 GMT) on Thursday, although the firm said it expected most will have supply restored later in the day.Prime Minister Fumio
Kishida said four people had died and that the government would be on high alert for the possibility of further strong tremors over the next
two to three days, Reuters reported.According to Reuters at least 107 people were reported injured, several of them seriously, with 4,300
households still without water by mid-morning
Residents of one Fukushima city formed a long queue in a parking lot to fill up plastic tanks with water for use at home.Renesas Electronics
Corp (6723.T), the world&s biggest maker of automotive microcontroller chips, said it was checking for quake damage at three plants in
Japan.Among them is its advanced Naka plant in Ibaraki prefecture, which closed for three months following the March 2011 quake and for a
shorter time after a quake in 2021
It had to halt production last year because of a fire, exacerbating a global chip shortage that is forcing auto companies to curb output.The
quake, initially measured at magnitude 7.3 but later revised up to 7.4 by the Japan Meteorological Agency, hit at 11.36 p.m
local time just off the coast of Fukushima prefecture at a depth of 60 kilometres
The 2011 quake and tsunami off Fukushima & commemorated across the country less than a week ago & left some 18,000 dead.A tsunami warning
was issued but cancelled early on Thursday morning
Some areas reported a rise in the sea level but no serious damage was immediately reported.The 2011 disaster also set off meltdowns at the
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant
No abnormalities were reported at any nuclear power plants, although authorities had earlier said a fire alarm had been triggered at a
turbine building at the crippled plant.Manufacturers said they were trying to gauge the potential damage to their facilities in the
region.Toyota said it had cancelled the day shift at two factories in northeast Japan after workers evacuated the plants during their
evening shift on Wednesday
The automaker said it will decide on the evening shift later.Mizuho Financial Group Inc&s (8411.T) main banking arm said some of its ATMs
temporarily stopped operations due to power outages, but that they had all been restored to service.In an attempt to cover the area affected
by the Shinkansen outage, All Nippon Airways (9202.T) and Japan Airlines (JAL) said they had added extra flights to northern cities
There were no forecasts of when regular rail service might be restored.Japan&s benchmark Nikkei stock average jumped, with no impact seen
from the quakeThe post Thousands of northeast Japan homes still without power after earthquake kills four first appeared on Ariana News.
