Magnitude 5.8 quake in Hokkaido

Four people were injured and hundreds of others left stranded in train carriages and at an airport early Friday after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit Hokkaido the previous night.

While no major damage was reported from the quake, which struck at 9:22 p.m. Thursday, more than 100 households suffered a temporary water outage in the hardest-hit town of Atsuma, which was already devastated by a major quake last September. Transportation services were disrupted elsewhere and there were reports of small-scale avalanches.

Two women and two men in Tomakomai and Sapporo sustained minor injuries after falling during the quake.

Some 680 people were temporarily stranded in train carriages on Hokkaido Railway Co.’s Chitose Line and about 170 people were forced to spend the night at New Chitose Airport, the region’s main international gateway.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Friday the government has yet to confirm whether any major landslides or avalanches resulted from the quake.

Hokkaido Electric Power Co. said it has found no irregularities at its Tomari nuclear power plant in western Hokkaido.