Earthquake aftermath: Japan fighting to avoid mass power cuts

Govt officials warned power supply is expected to fall short of demand Tuesday evening, and officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. said there could be partial outages if the supply squeeze continues

Japan is scrambling to keep the lights on in Tokyo as frigid weather and power plant outages from last week’s earthquake put the nation’s capital at risk of blackouts.

Government officials warned power supply is expected to fall short of demand Tuesday evening, and officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. said there could be partial outages if the supply squeeze continues.

Unplanned disruptions across the Tokyo and Tohoku regions could begin from 8 p.m. local time and plunge between 2 to 3 million buildings into darkness until around 11 p.m., Tepco said. The utility said its pumped hydro facilities will stop operating