Hanoi (VNA) – Prime MinisterNguyen Xuan Phuc on September 11 sent his sympathy to his Japanese counterpartShinzo Abe over the human and property losses caused by a major earthquake andsubsequent landslide in Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture on September 6.

Also on September 11, Deputy PrimeMinister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh sent his sympathy to JapaneseForeign Minister Taro Kono.

At least nine people were killed andabout 300 injured by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that struck Japan'snorthernmost main island of Hokkaido early September 6, destroying houses,ripping apart roads and causing a number of massive landslides, including some thatburied parts of towns.

The quake also cut power to all 2.95million homes and a nuclear power plant in the prefecture, causing thecancellation of flights and disrupting train services to the popular touristdestination.

The temblor, which occurred in southernHokkaido at a depth of about 37 km, registered the highest reading of 7 on theJapanese seismic intensity scale in Atsuma and upper 6 in Abira, both southeastof Sapporo. No tsunami warning was issued.

Smaller aftershocks continued and theJapan Meteorological Agency warned that earthquakes with a similar intensitycould continue in the area for about a week.

The quake is the latest in a series ofnatural disasters in Japan this year, and came just days after a powerfultyphoon roared through western Japan, killing more than 11 people, injuringmore than 400 and forcing the temporary shutdown of Kansai InternationalAirport, one of the country's key gateways.

The incident brought back memories ofthe 2011 quake and subsequent tsunami, which knocked out both the main andemergency power supply at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and caused threereactors to melt down.-VNA