Japan earthquake halts work at Toyota and Nissan plants

[TOKYO] Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor halted operations at plants in northern Japan after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Fukushima prefecture late on Wednesday (Mar 16).

Work at Toyota's factories in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures was still suspended on Thursday and the company is deciding whether to resume production later in the day, spokeswoman Shiori Hashimoto said in an emailed statement.

Toyota's popular Yaris compact car is among the vehicles made at the plants.

Nissan halted production at its factory in the city of Iwaki in Fukushima. The plant was already scheduled to close on Thursday and Friday as part of Nissan's employee vaccination schedule, spokeswoman Azusa Momose said.

While there was some damage at Toyota's plants, there haven't been any reports of employee injuries, according to the company. Nissan said all of its employees have been safely evacuated and there was no damage impacting production or injuries reported at its Iwaki facility, Momose said.

Some equipment was damaged at Denso's Fukushima plant, a spokeswoman for the Toyota supplier said on Thursday. Denso is assessing how production might be impacted, she said.

Toyota also halted operations at its engine factory in Miyagi, but operations are set to resume later on Thursday after safety checks, company spokeswoman Hashimoto said.

Hitachi Astemo has temporarily halted 7 factories in northern Japan while inspections are carried out, a spokesman for the company said.

The auto-parts maker can't forecast when production will resume until checks are finished, he said. Wednesday night's earthquake killed 4 people and injured more than 100. BLOOMBERG