NewzKUMAMOTO, Japan, July 29 (Reuters) - A 7.1-magnitude earthquake killed at least 13 people near the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto and rescuers are frantically searching for survivors trapped beneath the rubble, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Wednesday. Rescuers race to find survivors trapped in collapsed shopping mall as power outages, damaged roads and aftershock fears hamper relief efforts. Five people died after a major earthquake in Japan, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Wednesday.
The Aeon Mall in Kumamoto Prefecture was damaged after a 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit the region. (EPA Images pic)KUMAMOTO: A major quake that badly damaged a shopping mall and a factory in Japan killed at least five people, emergency services said on Wednesday.The dead included two women in the mall and three more elsewhere in the southwestern Kumamoto region hit by Tuesday's 7.1-magnitude tremor, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency told AFP.Seven people were severely injured.The mall in the town of Kashima was apparently gutted by a gas explosion, a government source told the Kyodo news agency, collapsing ceilings and walls."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, a local official told AFP.Initial reports said that as many as 20 to 30 people were trapped inside but broadcaster NHK cited police early Wednesday as saying that the number was "lower than that"."The exact number is not known. It is certain that staff members are trapped, but it is unclear whether any members of the public are among them," NHK quoted police as saying.They added that no safe route of access has been found into the facility, meaning that it has not been possible to enter so far.At the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro where a smokestack partially collapsed, the local government said that nine people were unaccounted for.Across Kumamoto - hit by two quakes in as many days in 2016 that killed 273 people - 36,880 households and facilities had no power on Wednesday morning, officials said.The powerful tremor struck at 4:27pm (0727 GMT) on Tuesday and was measured at 6.8 by the US Geological Survey (USGS) at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).The temblor sparked several fires, collapsed buildings, damaged bridges - including part of one pedestrian walkway that collapsed into a river - and capsized a freight train.Chiharu Hara, a 35-year-old recruitment agent who was in Kumamoto, told AFP that she was "terrified" when the quake struck."The office swayed violently side to side.
Everyone panicked," Hara said.Footage verified by AFP showed heavy vehicles, street lights and traffic lights swaying. Elsewhere, vehicles on a two-lane road were seen carefully navigating sections of buckled pavement.Security c… Two women were confirmed dead and one woman was found unresponsive, local authorities said Wednesday, hours after an explosion rocked a shopping mall on Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu following a powerful magnitude-7.1 earthquake.
The major 7.1-magnitude tremor on Tuesday badly damaged a shopping mall and a factory in Japan. Dozens of people were hospitalized after the earthquake hit southern Japan. According to media reports, at least two women were killed after a shopping mall partially collapsed in the town of Kashima.
Dozens of people were feared trapped in a shopping mall in Japan on Tuesday after a major earthquake toppled buildings, sparked fires and reportedly killed one person and injured more than 100.
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