भूकम्प के बाद जापान में तबाही का मंजर , Powerful quakes rock northeastern Japan, 4 died, more than 100 injured

• Four people have been dead and more than 100 injured in Japan after an M7.3 earthquake shook off the coast of Fukushima.

• A Yamabiko 223 bullet train derailed along the Tohoku Shinkansen rail line between Fukushima Station & Shiroishizao Station.

• A big crack comes in the road surface  on Tohoku Expressway in Shiroishi City, at Miyag after Massive earthquake hit Japan.

Tens of thousands of Japanese households remained without power on Thursday morning, more than 10 hours after a powerful earthquake that left at least four dead and more than 100 injured, and severed transport links to the country's northeast.

Companies including a giant chipmaker and Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) raced to assess the impact of the magnitude 7.4 quake, which struck shortly before midnight on Wednesday. Supply chain disruptions could put more pressure on already strained global output of smartphones, electronics and automobiles.

The temblor revived memories of the March 11, 2011 disaster in the same area, and left Shinkansen bullet train service indefinitely suspended, with at least one major highway to the region closed for safety checks. Parts of building facades tumbled into streets below in some areas, and television footage showed a steep tiled roof crumpled over a parked, crushed car and workers examining cracked highways.Areas of Tokyo lost power immediately after the quake, though most regained it within three hours.

But some 24,270 households serviced by Tohoku Electric Power Co (9506.T) in northeast Japan remained without electricity by 10:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) on Thursday, although the firm said it expected most will have supply restored later in the day.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said four people had died and that the government would be on high alert for the possibility of further strong tremors over the next two to three days.

At least 107 people were reported injured, several of them seriously, with 4,300 households still without water by mid-morning. Residents of one Fukushima city formed a long queue in a parking lot to fill up plastic tanks with water for use at home.

Renesas Electronics Corp (6723.T), the world's biggest maker of automotive microcontroller chips, said it was checking for quake damage at three plants in Japan.

Among them is its advanced Naka plant in Ibaraki prefecture, which closed for three months following the March 2011 quake and for a shorter time after a quake in 2021. It had to halt production last year because of a fire, exacerbating a global chip shortage that is forcing auto companies to curb output.