Earthquakes

A magnitude-7.2 earthquake ripped across mountains and rice fields in northern Japan on Saturday, killing at least six people dead as it sheared off hillsides, jolted buildings and shook nuclear power plants. At least eight people were missing. Military helicopters swarmed the quake zone 250 miles north of Tokyo, ferrying in supplies and flying injured to hospitals. Officials said at least 144 people were injured and landslides trapped 100 bathers at a hot spring resort. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said the government was mobilizing troops, police and "everybody we possibly can" to find the missing and rescue and treat the injured. The force of the quake, which was followed by 153 aftershocks, buckled countless roads, including one highway that was severed when a stretch of land collapsed, creating a cliffside. Electricity was cut to about 29,000 households and water to about 500 others.

At a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the jolt splashed 5 gallons of radioactive water from two pools storing spent fuel, operators said. Trade and Industry Ministry official Yoshinori Moriyama, however, said there was no leakage outside the plant. Soldiers fighting through a torrent of mud and rocks dug three bodies from a hot spring resort Sunday, bringing the death toll from a magnitude 7.2-earthquake in northern Japan to at least nine, with more than 200 injured.