
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993                   TAG: 9307130255
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HAKODATE, JAPAN                                LENGTH: Medium

QUAKE KILLS AT LEAST 36 IN JAPAN

A major earthquake struck northern Japan late Monday, setting hundreds of houses ablaze and triggering tidal waves that destroyed homes and boats as far away as South Korea.

At least 36 people were killed and at least 100 were missing, reports said.

The quake matched the strongest to hit Japan in 15 years, measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale, the Central Meteorological Agency said. It was centered 30 miles under the Sea of Japan and about 50 miles west of Hokkaido, an island with a population of 5.65 million people. Strong aftershocks followed.

Police confirmed 36 dead on Hokkaido and 16 missing, basing their information on incomplete reports from villages along the coast. They said the number of casualties was expected to rise.

Kyodo News Service reported late Monday that the unofficial death toll had reached 30, with at least 104 people missing - most buried in landslides or swept away by tidal waves, called tsunamis.

Tsunamis reported to be 16 feet high lashed wide areas of the Japan Sea coast, sweeping away scores of small wooden houses and destroying small fishing boats moored at ports along the coasts of both Japan and South Korea.

Worst hit by the quake was Okushiri, a small island just 30 miles south of the epicenter.

Television footage showed pandemonium on the island, with pajama-clad people trying to rig hoses to fight blazes while other residents prayed and cried as they watched their town burn.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB