Rescuers search for survivors after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Japan kills 13 people and destroys a shopping mall.
KUMAMOTO: A major earthquake in Japan that all but destroyed a shopping mall killed at least 13 people, officials said Wednesday, as rescuers struggled to reach survivors feared trapped in the wreckage.
The 7.1-magnitude tremor on Tuesday flattened homes, triggered fires, ruptured bridges and left tens of thousands without power in the southwestern Kumamoto region, where twin quakes killed hundreds in 2016.
READ MORE: Five dead after powerful Japan quake, others missing
“Extensive damage has been confirmed, including casualties, collapsed buildings, fires and damage to roads,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in Tokyo as she announced the 13 fatalities.
Government spokesman Minoru Kihara said seven others were seriously injured and that more than 9,000 people had sought refuge in 506 shelters in three regions of Kyushu island.
“It was the strongest quake I ever experienced,” Kanzo Matsumoto, 73, the operator of a luxury onsen hot spring inn in Yatsushiro, told AFP. “I’m not sure if (the region) will be able to recover from the damage.”
Chiharu Hara, a 35-year-old recruitment agent, told AFP she was “terrified” when the quake struck. “The office swayed violently side to side. I was afraid it would collapse. Everyone panicked,” Hara said.
At least two of the dead were women killed in a shopping mall in Kashima apparently gutted by a gas explosion around half an hour after the quake. Footage from inside the mall showed rescue workers picking through a mass of twisted steel, dangling cables and chunks of ceiling.
“The explosion occurred after the customers and staff had evacuated,” a spokesman for the mall’s operator Aeon told AFP. Eight people were rescued from the mall, five of whom had injuries.
Nine people were unaccounted for in a Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro, where part of a smokestack smashed into the facility below. Across Kumamoto, 36,880 households had no power on Wednesday morning.
The tremor struck at 4:27 pm (0727 GMT) on Tuesday and was measured at 6.8 by the US Geological Survey at a depth of 10 kilometres. The quake also knocked over a cargo train, flattened a traditional “torii” gateway and cracked roads. High-speed shinkansen trains remained suspended.
Footage showed parts of a wall at the centuries-old Kumamoto Castle collapsing. The Japanese military mobilised 3,600 personnel for disaster relief and sent 20 aircraft to assess damage.
Japan sits on four major tectonic plates along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and accounts for about 18% of the world’s earthquakes. The country is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.
