HOKKAIDO, Japan’s northernmost prefecture, an island of some five million people, experienced total blackout following the recent earthquake with magnitude 6.6.
Hokkaido relied heavily on a single coal-fired plant which was near the epicenter. When the plant was damaged by the quake, an abrupt halt in supplies caused such a huge imbalance in supply and demand that other power plants on Hokkaido had to be shut down leaving virtually the entire island in the dark. The blackout was completely unprecedented in Japan.
Residents were unable to carry out daily tasks, and a number of industrial plants and factories were also affected. The new toilet in their homes which was completely electric and relied on power to flush was unusable. Electric stove tops were not usable. Instead a portable gas cartridge stove came in handy for steaming rice, and boiling water for instant cup noodles. Another person heated water on the stove to control the temperature of his tank of about a dozen tropical fish.
One cannot count the many examples of items that completely lose their function when power is cut. Even though Hokkaido’s airport had not been damaged by the earthquake, without electricity airline companies were not able to issue tickets. Gas pumps in gas stations depend on electricity and remained unable to sell gas. Cash could not be withdrawn from ATMs, and credit cards and electronic money were also rendered useless. At a 10-story apartment building, the elevator was not available.
Portable batteries for smartphones flew off convenience store shelves, and lines grew outside mobile phone shops for access to chargers and some used the outlet in their vehicles to charge their phones. Power had been restored to almost all customers two days after the earthquake. People became painfully aware of how dangerous it was to rely so completely on electricity for daily life.
