Society

Parts of Japan lose power after its first-ever electricity supply warning

Mar 22 (timesnownews.com) - Several areas in Japan witnessed blackouts on Tuesday after the government issued its first-ever power supply warning and advised the residents to conserve energy following a massive earthquake last week.

The earthquake was so strong that it forced several power plants in the Asian country to stop operating. In order to ease the power shortage amid unseasonably cold conditions in eastern Japan on Tuesday, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it would receive up to 1.42 million kilowatts of electricity from seven regional utilities.

In Tokyo, snow fell today with temperatures forecast to peak at just 4 degrees Celsius (39.2 degrees Fahrenheit), compared with a high of 14 degrees on Monday.

Despite the efforts, Tepco informed that as of 11:34 am (local time), about 2,120 households in three prefectures near Tokyo had lost power.

Last Wednesday, an earthquake measuring 7.4 on the Richter Scale struck northeast Japan and destroyed equipment and forced six thermal power plants in regions serviced by Tepco and Tohoku Electric to shut.

Industry Minister Koichi Hagiuda earlier told parliament that some of those plants could take weeks or months to return to operation.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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