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Japan Earthquakes Kill 23, Leave Thousands In Shelters
Ojiya, Japan (AFP) Oct 25, 2004 Overturned cars, crumbled homes and shattered roads greeted rescue workers who flew here Sunday after Japan's deadliest earthquake in almost a decade stunned residents used to bearing up through the nation's frequent tremors. Homeless residents huddled in blankets and started small fires in front of public shelters, shocked from the night before when quakes left 21 dead and injured more than 900 others in this town surrounded by rolling hills. While Japan is accustomed to earthquakes, the epicenters are often in the ocean and inflict limited damage. But starting just before 6:00 pmSaturday in Niigata Prefecture, plates and televisions came crashing down after an initial tremor of 6.8 on the Richter scale and hundreds of aftershocks. "I jumped under my dining table but everything from the walls fell down and bowls and dishes were all around my feet," said one woman in her fifties in the town of Ojiya, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Tokyo. "I ran outside and when I looked at buildings they were shaking like pudding," a man in his twenties in nearby Mitsuke told the Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK). The quakes followed the worst typhoon season on record, including the deadly Typhoon Tokage which struck Wednesday. It killed 79 people and left 12 missing. "Everything in my house, including the television and lights, fell and was smashed," one man in his thirties told NHK. "I'm just happy I have my life." As two powerful aftershocks hit Sunday, the Defense Agency sent 230 personnel in vehicles and helicopters to rescue stranded and injured residents and provide clean water. Some 58,700 people were evacuated from their homes. The military sent 11 planes to bring in supplies and take away patients for treatment. "We're all right, we're all right," one elderly woman said as she boarded a relief helicopter, as another old woman with a cane was carried into the chopper by a solider. Shoji Takizawa, 68, said he spent the night in a car with his wife and son after the earthquake knocked out electricity and was desperate to see dawn break. "I'm scared to go home," Takizawa told Kyodo News agency. A high-speed bullet Shinkansen train was also derailed near the epicentre of the quake on Saturday, but no one among some 150 passengers was injured. It was the first ever bullet train derailment for any reason. The Japanese Red Cross Society said it had sent 27 staff to hospitals and shelters in the area to help patients and distribute blankets, canned food, bread and soup. Some 170 of the injured had been assembled at the Nagaoka Red Cross Hospital. Most suffered from bruises, broken bones, and cuts and scratches. The Red Cross also planned to distribute some three tons of emergency kits with medical supplies meant to last 200 people for three days. In the early morning, another 70 Red Cross staff were dispatched to the hospital to look after the mental and spiritual health of shaken victims. The tremors could be felt strongly in the capital, making for an awkward launch Saturday of the annual Tokyo International Film Festival. Guests in formal wear -- and a few in masks of action heroes -- were stuck for over an hour waiting for lifts to resume and take them to a 52nd-floor reception. Finally, hundreds of guests were brought up in a freight elevator. The series of quakes was the deadliest since the 1995 earthquake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale in Kobe which killed 6,433 people and injured some 43,700, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
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Ash Continuing To Spew From Vanuatu Volcano
Sydney (AFP) Dec 12, 2005Thousands of tonnes of ash are continuing to spew from a volcano in Vanuatu, but officials said Monday the activity on the South Pacific nation was not likely to result in a major deadly eruption. |
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