Japan Earthquake Kills 13, Rescuers Search for Trapped Survivors
A strong earthquake struck Japan’s southwestern Kumamoto region on Tuesday. The powerful tremor killed at least 13 people. Rescuers are now working hard to find people feared trapped in the rubble.
Officials reported seven others were seriously hurt. More than 9,000 people went to 506 shelters for safety. The earthquake measured 7.1 on Japan’s own scale. The US Geological Survey measured it at 6.8 magnitude. It hit at a depth of 10 kilometers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed the deaths. She said officials saw wide damage. Homes were flattened, fires started, and bridges broke. Many thousands of homes lost electricity.
Local people said this was the strongest earthquake they had ever felt. Kanzo Matsumoto, a 73-year-old hotel owner, described it. He said he was unsure if the region could recover. Chiharu Hara, a 35-year-old worker, said she was terrified. Her office shook strongly, and everyone panicked.
Two women died in a shopping mall in Kashima. The mall was heavily damaged by a suspected gas explosion. This happened about 30 minutes after the main earthquake. Rescue workers moved carefully through broken metal and fallen parts of the ceiling. Eight people were rescued from the mall with injuries.
At a factory in Yatsushiro, nine people are still missing. Part of a tall smokestack fell onto the factory building. The earthquake also overturned a cargo train. It knocked down a traditional archway and cracked many roads. High-speed trains remain stopped. Parts of the ancient Kumamoto Castle wall also collapsed.
The Japanese military has sent 3,600 people for disaster relief. They are using 20 airplanes to see the damage from above.
Japan is a country with many earthquakes. It sits where four large earth plates meet. The country experiences hundreds of tremors every year. Most of these are not strong. However, Japan still remembers a very large earthquake in 2011. That quake and tsunami killed about 18,500 people and damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant.
