日本首相安倍晋三表示，日本北部的北海道岛发生的强烈地震造成的死亡人数翻了一番，至少上升到16人。
该岛上530万居民中有超过一半星期五仍没有电。
星期四黎明前发生的6.7级地震引发了山体滑坡，导致房屋被掩埋，整个北海道也因大片地区停电和交通中断而瘫痪。
昨晚公布的地震死亡人数还为8人，不过在周五早些时候安倍召开紧急会议后不久，日本广播协会就引用了新的数字。
灾害管理部门表示，还有26人失踪。
北海道岛是一个大小相当于奥地利的旅游胜地，以山脉、湖泊和海鲜闻名。地震发生之后，北海道电力公司关闭其燃料发电厂作为预防措施后，全岛停电。
日本经济产业省表示，电力公司周五早上已恢复向295万客户中的约131万户供电，可能需要至少一周才能完全恢复供电。
这次地震是日本本周遭遇的第二次灾难。日本今年夏天受到致命的台风、洪水和创纪录的热浪袭击。
The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rattled the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido doubled to at least 16, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said
Friday, with more than half the island’s 5.3 million residents still without power.
The 6.7 magnitude quake, which hit before dawn Thursday, triggered landslides that buried houses and paralyzed Hokkaido with widespread power and transport cuts.
The death toll had been at eight overnight, but broadcaster NHK cited Abe in reporting the new total soon after he held an emergency meeting early Friday.
Another 26 people were missing, disaster management authorities said.
The island, a tourist destination about the size of Austria known for its mountains, lakes and seafood, lost all power after the quake when Hokkaido Electric Power Co. shut its fossil fuel-fired power plants as a precaution.
The utility had restored power to about 1.31 million of 2.95 million customers by early Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. It could take at least a week to restore power fully.
The quake was the second disaster to hit Japan this week, after a summer during which the country has been battered by deadly typhoons, flooding and a record heat wave.