Nagano quake leaves 39 injured as houses collapse

The earthquake struck at 10:08 p.m. Saturday west of Nagano at a depth of 10 kilometers, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The agency revised the magnitude from a preliminary 6.8 while the U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 6.2. The government confirmed Sunday that the quake injured 39 people, destroying houses and snapping water pipes, with the worst damage in mountainous areas. In Nagano Prefecture's famous Hakuba Village-a popular ski resort that hosted part of the 1998 Winter Olympic Games-many homes were toppled and destroyed, local authorities said. Bird's-eye footage by public broadcaster NHK showed houses reduced to rubble. Around 30 people were trapped in the collapsed village houses soon after the quake, but were all rescued, Jiji Press said. The earthquake temporarily interrupted Shinkansen bullet train service in the region. Chubu Electric Power Co said 200 homes were still without power on Sunday, Japan Today informs. The quake was followed by more than 45 aftershocks, and Meteorological Agency official Yohei Hasegawa urged residents to watch out for landslides. There was no damage to the seven nuclear reactors at the sprawling Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in neighboring Niigata prefecture as they have been off-line since 2011. Other nuclear plants were also intact.