Woman dies, over 120 injured after strong quake jolts western Japan+

SHIZUOKA, Japan, Aug. 12 Kyodo - One woman is believed to have been killed by the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that shook Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan and its vicinity on Tuesday while
intensive work to repair an expressway damaged by the jolt continued Wednesday ahead of the peak holiday season.

The Shizuoka municipal government said it has recognized a 43-year-old, found
dead Tuesday under a pile of books in her apartment in the city, as a victim of
the quake. She is so far the only recognized casualty of the quake, which has
left more than 120 people injured, according to local governments and the
National Police Agency.
The Shizuoka police are also investigating the cause of the death of an
89-year-old woman who was hospitalized after falling from her bed at the time
of Tuesday's quake.
The temblor occurred 5:07 a.m. Tuesday. It measured a lower 6 on the Japanese
seismic scale of 7 in the prefecture and originated under the surface of the
sea in Shizuoka's Suruga Bay. Damage to nearly 5,000 houses has been reported
in the prefecture.
Traffic remained disrupted on the Tomei Expressway on Wednesday. Workers were
restoring and reinforcing a section where about 100 meters of the road's
shoulder collapsed and its surface was lifted by up to 10 centimeters near the
Kikugawa interchange in Shizuoka.
Detoured traffic jammed nearby roads and part of the Chuo Expressway, another
main expressway linking Tokyo with the central city of Nagoya, was backed up
for about 30 kilometers between Tokyo and Yamanashi Prefecture at one point
Wednesday. In Nagano Prefecture, a series of rear-end collisions on the Chuo
Expressway saw nine people taken to hospitals.
The outbound lanes of the Tomei Expressway will reopen midnight Wednesday and
inbound lanes will resume operation Thursday afternoon, according to the
operator of the expressway.
Kazuyoshi Kaneko, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, told
reporters Wednesday that he hopes to see at least one lane of the expressway
reopened within Wednesday.
''Since the 'Bon' holiday period starts Thursday, hopefully the outbound
(westbound) lane will be restored by the end of today,'' Kaneko said, referring
to the section that escaped damage.
Many Japanese travel during the traditional Bon mid-August holiday period as
some of them return home to pay respects to their ancestors.
==Kyodo