Source:
yahoo newsKASHIWAZAKI, Japan - A strong earthquake shook Japan's northwest coast Monday, setting off a fire at the world's most powerful nuclear power plant and causing a reactor to spill radioactive water into the sea — an accident not reported to the public for hours.
The temblor killed at least nine people and injured more than 1,000 as it toppled hundreds of wooden homes and tore 3-foot-wide fissures in the ground. Highways and bridges buckled, leaving officials struggling to get emergency supplies into the region.
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Nearly 13,000 people crowded evacuation centers Tuesday amid fears of mudslides and aftershocks. Japan's weather agency issued heavy rain, flooding and lightning warnings for the area, officials said. Tens of thousands of homes lost water and power.
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The quake triggered a fire in an electrical transformer and also caused a leak of radioactive water at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power plant, the world's largest in terms of electricity output.
The leak was not announced until late Monday, about 12 hours after the quake. That fed fresh concerns about the safety of Japan's 55 nuclear reactors, which supply 30 percent of the quake-prone country's electricity and have suffered a long string of accidents and cover-ups.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070717/ap_on_re_as/japan_quake
Tell me again why we can't have solar and wind power?
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