Saturday Morning News

Powerful Earthquake Strikes Japan

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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: First to Japan, where the powerful earthquake struck in Hiroshima State about 430 miles southwest of Tokyo. Initial reports say two people died and dozens were hurt. The quake was relatively deep underground and had a magnitude of 6.4.

CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon joining us on the line from Tokyo with the latest -- Rebecca.

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the human damage has been confirmed in the southwestern area of Japan around Hiroshima. The current death toll is two people, an 80-year-old woman killed when a wall collapsed on top of her, and another woman of around 50 who was killed by a chunk of concrete which crashed down from a balcony overhead.

The injury figures now stand at 37, although authorities say they're still awaiting final reports. The injuries include eight teenagers from a local high school girls' volleyball team hurt when part of the ceiling of their gym caved in on them.

Emergency crews are -- have been very busy and were particular busy right after the quake, which happened on a Saturday afternoon. Some people were trapped in elevators and had to be rescued and so forth.

The total extent of property damage is still unknown. The government has formed a task force to deal with the damage and spearhead rebuilding. Damage includes buckled and cracked pavement on roads, some roofs and walls of buildings collapsed, glass shattered, TV pictures -- TV, local TV has shown pictures of pillars supporting a building that had buckled. And there've been landslides in the area. Bullet train service to the Hiroshima area has been suspended and some bridges and highways are closed.

However, the good news is that the damage is not as bad as some earthquakes, particularly it does not compare at all to the Kobe earthquake, which happened six years ago, in which 6,000 people were killed and thousands more were injured. In this earthquake there were no power failures. There were a few small fires, but nothing major. Nuclear power plants reported safe and operational, no problems there. And the airports have been checked, and no major damage was found -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon in Tokyo, thanks very much. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com