NewzKUMAMOTO, Japan (AP) — Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner, in southwestern Japan.The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu also left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the prefectural government said. The tally has been steadily growing, fanning fears it may continue to rise.Some of the most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping center in the town of Kashima, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened. The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before a gas explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working.Fumika Ono was shopping at a mall with her older sister when the ground shook so fiercely she lost her balance and ducked.
Children began screaming and goods scattered on the floor.The 19-year-old was among the crowd of shoppers who managed to escape safely.The sweltering weather heightened worries about the survivors as rescuers braved the heat. It remained unclear how many people might still be missing.The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Witnesses said the explosion shook the area as much as the quake.Three people remained missing, while four deaths were confirmed at the mall site, according to Aeon President Akio Yoshida.“We take it seriously that an explosion happened and precious lives were lost,” Yoshida told a news conference in Kumamoto, where he bowed deeply along with two other executives.Japanese media footage of the mall showed that part of the ceiling had caved in, and metal pieces and other debris were scattered about as helmeted and masked rescue workers searched the area.Kiyoshi Matsunaga, 74, who lives in the mall's neighborhood and was at a supermarket just a few blocks away, said Tuesday's quake reminded him of a deadly quake 10 years ago that hit Kumamoto and killed 50 people.He stopped in his tracks when the shaking began while he was pushing his cart toward a cash register.
He could not move, he recalled.“I was frightened," he said.Japan is one of the most quake-prone nations in the world.In the Nuyamazu district, a pair of tem… Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner, in southwestern Japan. Rescuers battled through the tangled wreckage of a Japanese shopping mall Wednesday searching for any trapped survivors after a big earthquake killed at least 13 people.
A massive explosion ripped through the mall around 50 minutes after the 7.1-magnitude tremor on Tuesday in the southwestern Kumamoto region, where in 2016 twin quakes killed nearly 300 people. The tremor on the island of Kyushu caused widespread damage, flattening homes, triggering fires and leaving left tens of thousands of residents without power and water. Akio Yoshida, the president of mall operator Aeon, said three people died at the facility in the town of Kashima, with one more fatality feared and three others missing.
“The cause is still being investigated, but it’s likely that gas caused it,” fellow Aeon executive Keiji Ohno told a news conference where he and others bowed in apology. Five people were also confirmed killed and four others were unaccounted for at the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro city, where part of a red-and-white smokestack collapsed, a government official told AFP. “Extensive damage has been confirmed, including casualties, collapsed buildings, fires and damage to roads,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in Tokyo as she announced 13 fatalities, describing a “race against time” to help those affected.
Government spokesman Minoru Kihara said that as of early Wednesday more than 9,000 people had sought refuge in 506 shelters in three regions of Kyushu island. Around 130 police, 450 firefighters and 170 military personnel were involved in the rescue operation at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto, he said. Some stunned locals said the quake was the biggest they had felt in their lifetimes, measuring at the top of Japan’s seven-level shindo scale of shakiness.
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