More than 12 000 people took refuge in evacuation centres in north-west Japan on Tuesday after an earthquake the previous day flattened homes, killing nine people and injuring more than 1 000, and triggered a leak of contaminated water from a nuclear plant.
Water containing some radioactive materials leaked from a nuclear power plant in Japan after a strong earthquake on Monday, a spokesperson for the firm running the facility said. "We have confirmed that water containing a slight amount of radioactive materials leaked out of the facility," said Shougo Fukuda, a spokesperson for Tokyo Electric.
A strong earthquake killed at least seven people in Japan on Monday, injured more than 800, flattened houses and started a small fire at the world’s largest nuclear power plant, Japanese media and officials said. Two women in their 80s died when their homes collapsed due to the magnitude 6,8 tremor, centred in Niigata prefecture about 250km north-west of Tokyo.