Seven elderly Japanese fall vicim to earthquake

A major earthquake in central Japan damaged a large nuclear plant, and water containing radioactivesubstances leaked into the sea, officials said, and a fire broke out atthe plant in Kashiwazaki.  At least seven people were killed and hundreds injured in the earthquake.  Several hours later a second earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck in the sea off Kyoto in western Japan.  Tokyo Electric Power Company said the small amount of radioactive material that leaked into the sea posed no environmental risk.  Reactors at the plant automatically shut during the magnitude 6.8 quake. The seven deaths occurred in the city of Kashiwazaki.  Four women and three men – all in their 70s and 80s – died from injuries sustained in the earthquake, officials said.  Several hundred homes and businesses in Niigataprefecture were destroyed, roads were cracked and several landslidesburied roads.

Read more at the BBC online, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6901213.stm.