Strong quake jolts Japan, two dead

TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) A strong earthquake jolted northwestern Japan today, killing at least two people, injuring more than 200 and flattening houses, Japanese media and officials said.

Two women in their 80s died when their homes collapsed due to the magnitude 6.8 tremor, centred some 250 km (155 miles) northwest of Tokyo, Japanese media said.

"I was on the street, and there was strong sideways shaking. I couldn't remain standing. One wall has collapsed," gasoline station worker Hiroki Takahashi told public broadcaster NHK in Kashiwazaki City, near the focus of the quake, where there were reports of at least 12 people trapped under collapsed houses.

Buildings swayed as far away as Tokyo, and nuclear power reactors in Niigata prefecture were shut down for checks but there were no radiation leaks reported.

Black smoke billowed from a fire in an electrical transformer building at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant -- the world's largest -- near the epicentre.

The fire was largely out by noon.

Japan's Meteorological Agency warned that aftershocks could continue to rock the area, where evacuation centres were being set up.

Troops and extra emergency teams were being sent to help with rescue and clean-up efforts in the area, where TV pictures showed several houses and a temple had collapsed.

EMERGENCY CENTRE Bullet trains to the area were halted briefly and local trains stopped. TV pictures showed one train had toppled off the rails, but media said no one was injured. Some 37,000 households were without water service, public broadcaster NHK said.

The 10:13 am (0643 IST) quake was centred around 60 km (37 miles) southwest of Niigata. Monday is a holiday in Japan so financial markets were closed.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had cut short campaigning for an upcoming Upper House election and was returning to Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference.

The government had established an emergency office to deal with the quake, he added.

"Gas seems to have leaked in some places. Electricity is fine, but I can't go inside," Kashiwazaki resident Masae Yanai told public broadcaster NHK.

Tsunami warning sirens sounded along affected stretches of the Sea of Japan, with a surge of up to about 50 cm (20 inches) predicted, but the warning was later withdrawn.

Bullet train services were halted and NHK said there were power outages and some highways had been closed.

Niigata was the site of an October 2004 earthquake with a matching magnitude of 6.8 that killed 65 people and injured more than 3,000.

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

Sanyo Electric Co. spokesman Akihiko Oiwa said operations at its semiconductor factory in Niigata were halted due to the earthquake, though so far there have been no reports of damage. The factory is one of Sanyo's largest.

REUTERS SW PM1100 Reuters