OJIYA, Japan, Oct 24 (AFP) - Japan was hit by strong aftershocks Sunday after 21 people died and more than 900 were injured in powerful earthquakes that struck within days of the country`s worst typhoon in a quarter-century.
With an initial tremor of 6.8 on the Richter scale followed by more than 240 aftershocks, the earthquakes starting late Saturday flattened houses, cracked roads wide open and led to the first ever derailment of Japan`s famed bullet train.
The worst damage was in coastal Niigata prefecture, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Tokyo, where 21 people were killed and 940 injured, Niigata police spokesman Kohei Kawasaki said.
National broadcaster NHK put the injury toll at 1,800 and said 340 buildings were destroyed or damaged, with electricity and fresh water cut.
The earthquakes were the deadliest to hit tremor-prone Japan since 1995 when 6,433 people were killed and 43,700 injured as the western city of Kobe was devastated by a quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale.
The dead were mostly elderly and children. They included a 76-year-old hospital patient whose artificial respirator was dislodged by the tremors and at least three people, including a two-month-old baby boy, who died from shock.
Three children were also killed under the rubble of their house which collapsed in the town of Ojiya, the city in the seaside region that suffered much of the destruction.
"The damage is getting worse but we are not fully grasping the whole picture. We simply cannot inspect quake-hit areas because of broken roads," police spokesman Kawasaki said.
Kazuo Sakai, 78, was hospitalized with heart trouble, saying he could not return to sleep after what he felt during the quake.
"My bed was shaking from side to side repeatedly as I was having a meal," said Sakai, as quoted by domestic media.
About 58,700 people were evacuated for safety around Niigata which was hit within two hours Sunday afternoon by two strong aftershocks of 4.9 and 4.6 on the Richter scale. No immediate fresh damage was reported.
But the Japan Meteorological Agency warned there was a 10 percent probability of aftershocks above 6.0 on the Richter scale hitting the region within three days.
The defense agency sent some 230 personnel in 11 military aircraft to distribute emergency supplies and airlift the wounded.
The Japanese Red Cross Society distributed blankets, canned food, bread and soup and was ready with three tons of emergency kits that can provide medical supplies to 200 people in Ojiya for three days.
The quakes cut off power to as many as 284,000 households, a spokeswoman for Tohoku Electric Power Co. said, adding that 12,800 were still without electricity Sunday.
They also derailed a Shinkansen bullet train Saturday for the first time since Japan`s high-speed rail service began 40 years ago.
But no one was injured as the train, heading from Tokyo to Niigata at 120 kilometers (74 miles) per hour, was thrown off course.
"Suddenly, I felt a very strong shock and realized the train was not running on railways. I thought I would die," a passenger told the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi promised quick efforts to help victims of the quake and of Typhoon Tokage, which killed at least 79 people as it ripped through Japan on Wednesday.
"The devastation of the quakes was beyond what we had imagined. I give my sincere sympathies," Koizumi said.
The quakes hit as Koizumi opened the Tokyo International Film Festival, where he stayed for an hour an hour after tremors were felt in the capital until he heard of the train`s derailment.
Koizumi`s spokesman defended the decision to remain at the festival, saying it was part of the prime minister`s duties.
While Japan is used to earthquakes, tremors often strike in the ocean and inflict limited casualties -- with modern buildings designed to withstand damage.
But the epicentre of the first quake on Saturday was a relatively shallow 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) underground, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The quake hit northern Japan as the south of the country was still reeling from the onslaught of Tokage, which was a record 10th typhoon to ravage the country this year. The nine previous typhoons caused 102 deaths and left 13 people missing and presumed dead.
10/24/2004 11:57 GMT - AFP