International Oil spills into ocean after big earthquake

Press, 14 June 1978, Page 9

International Oil spills into ocean after big earthquake

NZPA-Reuter

Tokyo

More than one million gallons of oil has spilled into the Pacific Ocean from giant oil tanks ruptured by a big earthquake which hit Japan on Monday, officials have said.

The earthquake, one of the biggest in Japan since World War 11, killed 21 people in Sendai, a city 300ktn northeast of ToKyo, and injured about 350.

It also caused widespread damage to houses, bridges, and rc ds, and split open three oil tanks containing 19 million gallons of oil at a beachside storage depot. Most of the oil was tr pped behind a restraining wall but some of it spewed into the sea. More than 1000 workers were fighting yesterday to prevent the oil from spreading down the coast and causing an environmental disaster.

The earthquake cut gas supplies to Sendai, which has a population of 600,000 and parts of the city were without water.

Army lorries yesterday provided drinking water to housewives lining up with plastic dustbins. Women also queued to get drinks from supermarkets.

i The city’s schools were 'closed as workmen began to I repair shattered windows 'and fallen plaster in damaged buildings. | But several buildings, including some multi-storey I blocks of flats, were leaning i dangerously and will have ito be demolished because ; their foundations were cracked.

, The earthquake registered 1 7.5 on the Richter scale of • magnitude at its epicentre | under the Pacific about ' 100 km off Japan’s main island of Honshu. The National Meteorological Agency said it was the biggest to hit Japan since May, 1968, when an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale killed 52 people and injured 330 on the northern island of Hokkaido.

The agency also said that aftershocks were continuing to ripple through the area.