Japan quakes disrupt Sony production of image sensors used in Apple iPhones

TOKYO, Japan - Electronics giant Sony Corp. said a factory producing image sensors for smartphone makers will remain closed while it assesses the damage from two deadly earthquakes which hit southern Japan. One of its major customers is Apple, which uses the sensors in its iPhones.

Sony said it will extend the closure of its image sensor plant in Kumamoto, which is in the southern island of Kyushu, after major tremblors on Thursday and Saturday rocked the key manufacturing region.

The PlayStation maker said operations at its image sensor plant in Nagasaki, also in Kyushu, will be partially suspended and it does not yet have a timeline for full resumption of operations.

Sony controls about 40 percent of the market for complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors, a type of integrated circuit that converts light into electrical signals. In smartphones they are used to convert images into digital data.

“We are not expecting any immediate supply disruption as we have some inventories right now," a Sony spokesman told Reuters on Saturday. "We will make an announcement promptly if any supply issues emerge.”

He said the company was hoping to resume operations as soon as aftershocks end, and would probably provide an update on late Monday afternoon. "We are still checking for potential damage to the plants, which usually operate on a 24-hour basis," he said.

Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.

Sony has two other CMOS image sensor plants in Japan.

Samsung Electronics says it has diversified its sources for image sensors used in its smartphones and the quakes will have no impact on its flagship products.

A devastating earthquake and tsunami in northern Japan in March 2011 temporarily knocked out part of Japan's auto supply chain. Some companies have since adjusted the industry's "Just in Time" production philosophy to limit any repeat of that costly disruption.

Other electronics makers were also forced to stop production in Kyushu, which has grown as a manufacturing hub over the past two decades. Kyushu accounts for roughly 25 percent of semiconductor output in Japan by some estimates.

Renesas Electronics Corp closed its Kumamoto plant, which produces microcontroller chips for automobiles. It will not resume production until it completes its damage assessment.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp halted production at its two Kumamoto plants which produce liquid crystal display modules used in display panels for car navigation systems and semiconductor chips used in power inverters for various electrical products, including air conditioners and hybrid or electric vehicles. It uses some of the products itself and provides others to customers.

“We are still assessing the situation as we continue to have aftershocks," said a Mitsubishi spokesman.

AUTOMAKERS HALT PRODUCTION

Saturday's natural disaster also impacted major automakers, which had just stopped their production lines to inspect for any damage from Thursday's earthquake.

Honda Motor Co Ltd halted production at its Kumamoto motorcycle plant, which has annual production capacity of 250,000. It said it will keep production on hold through Monday.

Toyota Motor Corp halted production at three plants producing vehicles, engines and trans axles in Fukuoka. Toyota said there was no damage at its plants, but it was checking the status of its suppliers. It will decide on Sunday whether to resume production.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd stopped production at its Fukuoka plant which produces vehicles including the Serena, Teana, Murano and Note.

Kumamoto prefecture accounts for about 1.1 percent of Japanese GDP, compared to the combined 6.2 percent of the four prefectures which suffered the heaviest damage from the 2011 natural disaster, according to strategists at Barclays.

"A relatively higher proportion of Kyushu's economic activity takes place within the region itself. Therefore economic impact on the rest of Japan stemming from any damages to Kyushu's manufacturing activity will be limited," Barclays wrote in a note to clients.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Magnitude 6.8 quake hits central Japan; no tsunami warning

TOKYO - An earthquake with preliminary magnitude of 6.8 jolted central Japan on Saturday evening, temporarily trapping 21 people when their homes collapsed and leaving 13 people injured, police and public broadcaster NHK said.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said no tsunami warning was issued after the quake, which was felt in the capital Tokyo 180 km (110 miles) away.

A National Police Agency official said the quake destroyed five houses in Hakuba village, host to ski jumping and other events during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games, but that the 21 villagers trapped were successfully rescued.

At least two of them were injured, although the degree of their injuries was not immediately clear, he said.

NHK reported 13 people were injured in the quake, including five who were seriously hurt.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters an advanced party of Japan's military had been sent to the area, and others were on standby.

High-speed trains were halted but later resumed service, Kyodo news agency reported.

There were no signs of irregularities at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, a spokesman for the utility said. The plant, where all seven reactors are currently off-line, is the world's largest power station.

NHK quoted an official in the village of Ogawa near the epicentre as saying there was a long tremor and documents fell off shelves.

"On the second floor of our house, the tremor was too strong to stand," said Sakiko Hagiwara, an NHK employee in the area.

"Pictures fell off the wall," she said, adding there were no cracks in the walls.

NHK also said there was a report of a landslide blocking roads near Hakuba.

Japan, situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck under the ocean off the coast of the northern city of Sendai. The quake triggered a massive tsunami that devastated a wide swathe of the Pacific coastline and killed nearly 20,000. It also devastated the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, causing meltdowns in the world's worst nuclear disaster in 25 years.

(Additional reporting by Olivier Fabre, Osamu Tsukimori, Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Andrew Roche and David Evans)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

6.2 quake hits central Japan, flattens houses

TOKYO -- A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck central Japan late Saturday, the US Geological Survey said, flattening houses, as media reported 15 people were briefly trapped under collapsed buildings.

The quake struck at 10:08 pm local time (1308 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles) at the epicentre, in the north of Nagano Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, according to USGS.

Television footage showed flattened wooden houses, a mudslide blocking a road and books fallen off shelves.

The Japan Meteorological Agency measured the quake at magnitude 6.8.

"It's quite a strong earthquake for an inland one," an official at the Japanese agency told a midnight press conference.

"We are worried about the extent of damage to houses and buildings," he said, adding that residents should also be on alert for possible landslides as mountainous areas were the hardest hit.

The quake toppled at least three houses in Hakuba Village, Nagano Prefecture, local police said, injuring one resident. No further details were immediately confirmed.

Public broadcaster NHK said 15 residents were temporarily trapped under the houses but all of them, including the injured person and a two-year-old toddler, were rescued.

Electricity was cut off at around 1,600 households.

Nagano police said several people sustained minor injuries in the quake.

But police and municipal officials said they were still scrambling to collect information as they were operating in the dark.

Yoshihide Suga, the top spokesman for the central government, told reporters that Tokyo was doing its best to get hold of the overall damage.

"We'd like to ask people in the affected areas to help each other and act calmly," Suga said in a televised remark.

More than 20 aftershocks hit Nagano following the first big strike Saturday.

The meteorological agency warned strong aftershocks could still occur in the coming week.

"It is fully possible that houses already damaged by the main quake could be dealt further blow by aftershocks," the official at the press conference said.

There was no damage to any of the seven nuclear reactors at the sprawling Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in neighbouring Niigata prefecture as they have been off-line since 2011.

Other nuclear plants were also intact.

Japan is hit by around a fifth of the world's powerful quakes every year and sits at the conjunction of several tectonic plates.

A strong tremor revives memories of the 9.0 earthquake in March 2011, which triggered a tsunami that sparked the Fukushima atomic disaster and left 18,000 people dead or missing.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Magnitude 6 jolts western Japan, injuries reported

A strong quake registering a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 struck western Japan early Saturday morning and caused a number of injuries, but no tsunami warning was issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The 5:33 a.m. quake registered lower 6 on Japan's seismic intensity scale of 7 on Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture. The quake originated near the island at a depth of around 10 kilometers, the agency said on its website.

The central government has set up a task force at the prime minister's office and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed the Cabinet's crisis management officials to gather information on quake damage and make every effort to help those who are injured, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

The National Police Agency said 19 injuries, including 10 in Hyogo, had been confirmed in five prefectures as of 10 a.m. The Hyogo prefectural government said 14 injuries had been reported by 9:45 a.m.

Local officials on Awaji Island said they have received some reports of damage to building roofs and walls but that no large-scale structural damage has been confirmed.

No quake damage was observed at nuclear facilities in western Japan including the Ikata power plant in Ehime Prefecture, the Shimane plant in Shimane Prefecture and an atomic laboratory in Osaka, their operators said. The Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, the only plant which has currently operating reactors in Japan, was unaffected.

Many train services in Hyogo and surrounding areas were suspended for safety inspections, but they have mostly resumed operations, operators said.

Major airports in the area suffered no damage, the transport ministry said. Four planes delayed landing at Kansai International Airport in Osaka due to the quake, but they all arrived safely.

Other major infrastructure such as roads and bridges were unaffected and there has been no power outage.

In Hyogo, a powerful quake originating off the northern coast of Awaji Island caused extensive damage in Kobe and surrounding areas in 1995, killing over 6,000 people.

The meteorological agency warned of possible aftershocks as strong as lower 5 on the Japanese intensity scale for a week or so.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Earthquake hits Japan

An earthquake with magnitude of 6.3 struck off the east coast of northern Japan on early Monday, No threat of tsunami was detected according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The quake occurred off the coast of Iwate, about 310 miles (500 kilometers) north of Tokyo at 7:08 am (2208 GMT) on Monday. center of the quake was 19 miles (30 kilometers) below the sea surface.