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September 7, 2018: On the island of Hokkaido in Japan, research is continuing to try to find survivors after the earthquake of September 5. Kyodo / via REUTERS
In Japan, rescue operations continue two days after the earthquake that hit Hokkaido Island. The latest provisional assessment of the earthquake is eighteen deaths and about twenty missing persons.
With our correspondent in Tokyo, Frédéric Charles
The earth continues to tremble in rural Atsumi. The earthquake halved several mountains, caused landslides that razed an entire forest and engulfed homes. Today, 25,000 soldiers are trying to save lives, if that is still possible.
Half of the island of Hokkaido, near Siberia, is still without electricity. The company Hokkaido Electric had to stop all its thermal power plants urgently at the time of the tremor, depriving the only nuclear power station of the island, that of Tomari, of external power supply.
The most impressive was the absence of electricity, says Nicolas Jégonday, director of the French Alliance in Sapparo, " because the current was cut off and you know that Japanese cities are cities very bright and there, yesterday, there was nothing. The city was all black. Of course, there was no more public transport, so everyone was walking. Many people had a flashlight in their hands and went home or went shopping ... "
One of the main problems was to find a way to recharge mobile phones, and " cars that became the most important source of energy, so people shared cars, " says Nicolas Jégonday .
To continue cooling its three reactors shut down since the Fukushima accident, the plant has activated generators. According to experts, the Tomari power station would be built on an active seismic fault.