SAPPORO -- A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.7 struck Hokkaido early Thursday, killing at least seven people and causing large-scale landfalls on Japan's major northern island.
The death toll was announced in the afternoon by Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
Five suffered cariac arrest in the town of Atsuma, southeast of Sapporo, where large-scale landslides destroyed houses, the town government announced. As of 1 p.m., 36 residents were unaccounted for, according to town officials.
At least 123 people were also injured across Hokkaido.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the earthquake recorded 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in the town, upper 6 in the town of Abira and lower 6 at New Chitose Airport. The airport, the island's major transport hub, has been closed.
The quake, which struck at about 3:08 a.m., was centered at a depth of 37 kilometers in the Iburi district in southwestern Hokkaido.
Resulting blackouts have hit as many as 2.95 million households -- across almost all of Hokkaido -- according to Hokkaido Electric Power Co.
The Nos 1-3 reactors of the company's Tomari nuclear power plant in western Hokkaido briefly lost their external power sources due to the power outage and used emergency power sources, but the external sources were restored by 1 p.m. No abnormality involving radiation has been reported, according to the company.
The earthquake also caused strong shaking in the northern part of Honshu.
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