Japan quake toll up to 20 as rescuers dig through landslides

TOKYO - 8 September 2018: The death toll from an earthquake that rocked Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido rose to 20, and 19 others remained unaccounted for in one small town after an entire mountainside collapsed on their homes, ABC News reported.

The region was slowly restoring transport links and power, with lights back in about half of the homes on the island of 5.4 million people after a day of region-wide blackouts.

Officials said they hoped to have the generating capacity close to normal by the weekend, though full repairs to Hokkaido's main power plant could take up to a week.

Rescuers were using search dogs, backhoes and shovels as they dug through tons of mud and debris from the landslides triggered by the magnitude 6.7 quake that struck before dawn Thursday.

After more than a day of digging, there were no reports of survivors being pulled from their crushed homes in the outskirts of the town of Atsuma, not far from the quake's epicenter.