Japan earthquake kills seven, injures hundreds

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan, July 16 (Reuters) A strong earthquake flattened houses in northwestern Japan today, killing at least seven people, and sparking a small radiation leak and fire at the world's biggest nuclear power plant.

More than 800 people were injured by the quake in Niigata prefecture, and buildings swayed as far away as Tokyo. Thousands were evacuated from their homes.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said 1.5 litres of water containing radioactive materials had leaked from the No 6 unit at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant -- the world's largest.

The company said in a statement that the contaminated water had been released into the ocean and had had no effect on the environment. TEPCO said earlier there were no radiation leaks at the plant, where reactors automatically shut down for checks.

Two women in their 80s died when their houses collapsed during the magnitude 6.8 tremor. A police spokesman confirmed the deaths of seven elderly people, and a 77-year-old man was reported missing after going for a walk before the quake hit at 10:13 am (0643 IST).

''First there was a sharp vertical jolt and then it shook sideways for a long time and I couldn't stand up. Tall shelves fell over and things flew around,'' said Harumi Mikami, 55, a teacher who was at her school in Kashiwazaki City, near the focus of the quake in Niigata prefecture about 250 km northwest of Tokyo.

The quake halted gas service to about 35,000 homes and disrupted the water supply to all of Kashiwazaki, a city with a population of around 95,000 that was hardest hit by the quake, media and officials said.

About 25,000 homes in Niigata prefecture were without electricity, a local official said.

Houses, many wooden with traditional heavy tile roofs, were flattened, a temple roof caved in and roads cracked in the quake, which was centred in the same northwestern area as a tremor three years ago that killed some 65 people.

''My house is half destroyed and the pillars are damaged,'' Mikami said. ''My biggest worry is where I will live now.'' TV pictures showed an 84-year-old woman, apparently alive, being rescued from the wreckage of her collapsed house some five hours after the quake.

About 7,800 people had fled their homes to nearly 100 evacuation centres as scores of aftershocks of up to magnitude 5.6 rattled the area, state broadcaster NHK said.

Troops and extra emergency teams were being sent to help with rescue and relief efforts, while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cut short campaigning for parliamentary elections to inspect the area.

NUCLEAR PLANT FIRE A fire in an electrical transformer at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant -- the world's largest -- was quickly extinguished but it was unclear when TEPCO could restart three power units there, said Yoshinobu Kamijima, a company spokesman.

Abe's government set up an emergency office to deal with the quake, which officials said had damaged about 500 buildings.

''People tell me they want to get back to their usual lives as soon as possible,'' Abe said after arriving by helicopter in Kashiwazaki. ''We'll make every effort towards rescue and also to restore services such as gas and electricity.'' Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes.

The quake was centred around 60 km southwest of Niigata. today was a holiday in Japan and financial markets were closed.

WATER CUT, TRAINS HALTED Bullet trains stopped services in northern Japan after the quake but resumed about 11 hours after the quake. A local train toppled from the rails, but media said no one was injured.

Landslides closed several local roads, and rain was forecast in the area for the next two days, raising worries about more slippage.

Soldiers brought tanks of water to Kashiwazaki and were cooking rice for evacuees. ''My house was totally messed up and the only thing I could think of was to escape and to take my kids to safety,'' said Itsuko Igarashi, a housewife, at an evacuation centre in an elementary school gymnasium in Kashiwazaki.

''It was shaking and scary,'' said her daughter, Sae, aged 6.

Tsunami warning sirens sounded along affected stretches of the Sea of Japan, but the alert was later withdrawn.

Niigata was hit in October 2004 by a quake with a matching magnitude of 6.8 that killed 65 people and injured more than 3,000.

That was the deadliest quake in Japan since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit Kobe city in 1995, killing more than 6,400.

Sanyo Electric Co. spokesman Akihiko Oiwa said operations had been halted at a semiconductor factory in Niigata, one of the company's largest, but there had been no reports of damage.

REUTERS KK KN2055