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13 people were found dead as rescue efforts continued into Wednesday after a powerful earthquake struck part of Japan’s southwestern regions, according to a statement by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
“There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” said Takaichi. “We will go all out to find and rescue as many people as we can.”
Many people were reported missing prompting major search and rescue efforts to take place. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu late on Tuesday afternoon.
Takaichi offered her condolences to the victims and their families, and reassured the public that all necessary response units have been mobilised to save as many people as possible. The Japanese premier also urged those affected by the tremor to exercise caution as a heatwave peaking at close to 40 degrees Celsius grips the Kumamoto prefecture.
The tremor is the biggest to hit the region in a decade. In 2016, a series of earthquakes, the largest recorded at 7.0 magnitude, struck the Kumamoto area, killing 277 people and injuring close to 3,000 others.
“The shaking reminded me of the Kumamoto quake (10 years ago) and I was frightened,” said Hiroki Shimoda, an official at Mifune town hall, who saw roof tiles of nearby homes crash to the ground.
Japan’s Self Defence Forces joined rescue workers in the search and rescue operations at a badly damaged shopping mall and helped deliver water and transfer the injured to nearby hospitals for medical attention.
The government is also preparing to deliver food and other critical necessities to the hard-hit areas, she said.
The quake collapsed the second floor of the Aeon Mall in Kashima Town, trapping people underneath the rubble, according to the fire department in the prefectural capital of Kumamoto. Local officials said they are investigating an explosion reportedly from a gas leak.
The Kumamoto emergency team said a chimney collapsed at the Nippon Paper Industries Co.’s Yatsushiro factory, trapping people under the debris. As of Wednesday, seven people were feared to still be trapped, while two survivors were safely rescued. The bodies of two other people were found and removed from the same area, according to the officials.
The area is also home to several civilian-purposed nuclear plants, but authorities announced on Tuesday that the facility had not suffered major damage, and that “no abnormalities were recorded”. The affected Japanese prefecture is about 900 kilometres southwest of the capital Tokyo.
Local Japanese news outlets reported that a hospital in the city of Yatsushiro took in about 40 people with injuries while about 50 others were taken to a hospital in Kumamoto city.
Many major manufacturers in Kyushu suspended operations on Tuesday but upon finding no major damage, planned to resume work from Wednesday. The runway at Aso Kumamoto Airport remains closed however, with no immediate news on when it would reopen.
A train derailed and fell on its side at Yatsushiro station, and stone walls were damaged at Kumamoto Castle, a main tourist destination that also sustained heavy damage in the 2016 quakes and is still being repaired.
Shinji Kiyomoto, director of earthquake and tsunami countermeasures with the Japan Meteorological Agency, urged residents to be cautious over the next two to three days, warning of possible strong aftershocks.
Additional sources • AP