TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Heavy snowfall across large parts of Japan has killed 17 people over the last 10 days, with thousands of homes suffering power outages, Japanese officials said Monday. Much of the country’s west coast as well as the northern region of Hokkaido have seen persistent heavy snow in recent days. Some areas have seen almost a meter of snowfall in 24 hours, including the town of Oguni in northeastern Yamagata region, local media […]
Tag: Hokkaido
Japan coastguard hunts for ‘sinking’ tourist boat
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Rescuers in Japan were searching Saturday for a sightseeing boat carrying around 30 people that sent a call warning it was sinking off the north coast, the coastguard and local media said. A local coastguard official told AFP that rescuers had “set up a task force to tackle the incident” and look for the missing, but declined to confirm any other details of the reported accident. National broadcaster NHK said the […]
Heatwave hits Japan site of Olympic marathon
Japan’s northern Hokkaido region was supposed to offer cooler climes for next week’s Olympic marathons and race walks, but now the area is battling a heatwave. Olympic organisers moved the two events from Tokyo in 2019, worried that even shifting the start times to dawn would not be enough to keep athletes safe from the heat. The summer temperatures in Hokkaido’s Sapporo were expected to be kinder — around five or six degrees Celsius cooler […]
Japan’s northern Hokkaido lifts state of emergency over virus
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Thursday lifted a state of emergency declared last month over the new coronavirus, saying it sees signs of the outbreak tapering off. The governor of Hokkaido prefecture announced the emergency measure on February 28, as infections in the region grew. The call urged residents to avoid unnecessary outings, though it did not come with aggressive enforcement measures of the sort being implemented now in […]
Magnitude 6.9 quake shakes Kurilsk, Russia
(Eagle News) — A magnitude 6.9 quake shook Kuril’sk, a town in Russia, on Thursday, Feb. 13, at UTC 10:33 or 6:33 p.m. Manila time. The quake was 142.6 kilometers deep and its epicenter was recorded 92 kilometers east northeast of Kuril’sk, Russia, according to the United States Geological Service (USGS). It is also located 370.1 kilometers southwest of Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan. There were no immediate reports of damage.
5.5-magnitude quake hits Japan’s Hokkaido, no tsunami risk
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A 5.5-magnitude earthquake jolted Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido Thursday but there was no tsunami warning and no reports of injuries or damage to property, authorities said. The quake struck at 9:22 pm local time (1222 GMT) at a depth of 41kilometers (25 miles), according to the US Geological Survey. The epicenter was around 55 km (35 miles) southeast of the city of Sapporo, the USGS added. The Japanese meteorological agency confirmed […]
5.9-magnitude earthquake strikes off Japan’s Hokkaido: USGS
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A shallow 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Monday, the US Geological Survey said. The moderate quake hit at a depth of eight kilometers (five miles), 107 kilometers northeast of Shibetsu. USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties and damage. It comes after a powerful 6.6-magnitude quake in September rocked Hokkaido, triggering landslides, collapsing houses and killing more than 40. Japan sits at the junction […]
In photos: Scenes of destruction after 6.6 magnitude quake in Japan
Palace: DFA monitoring situation of Filipinos in Japan following 6.7-magnitude earthquake
(Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs is currently monitoring the situation of Filipinos in Japan after a powerful 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck Hokkaido on Thursday, Sept. 6. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the DFA was “stay(ing) in touch with the leaders of the Filipino community in Hokkaido” to also “ensure that every one is safe and accounted for.” “Our prayers to the people of Japan who were affected by [the earthquake],” Roque added. The earthquake […]
Landslides leave dozens missing after quake hits Japan’s Hokkaido
by Kyoko Hasegawa Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A powerful 6.6-magnitude quake rocked the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido Thursday, killing two people, collapsing homes, and triggering landslides that left dozens missing. Multiple, large-scale landslides struck the sparsely populated countryside, which was also hit by the edge of a powerful typhoon that surged through Japan earlier this week. Aerial views showed dozens of houses destroyed at the bottom of a hill that was engulfed […]
Landslides after powerful 6.6 magnitude quake hits Japan’s Hokkaido
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A powerful 6.6 magnitude quake hit the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido early Thursday, triggering landslides, bringing down several houses, and killing one person. No tsunami warning was issued after the relatively shallow quake, which struck 62 kilometers (39 miles) southeast of the regional capital Sapporo. An aftershock measuring 5.3 rocked the area moments later and smaller aftershocks followed throughout the night. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of a slight sea […]
US heavy bombers, jets in show of force against N. Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — United States heavy bombers and stealth jet fighters delivered a show of force directed at North Korea in a live-fire drill Thursday, two days after Pyongyang’s provocative test-launch of a ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan. Two B-1B “Lancer” bombers from Guam and four F-35B stealth jet fighters from the Marine Corps’ Iwakuni airbase in Japan joined four South Korean jet fighters and two from Japan in the exercise […]





