MASHIKI // A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck southern Japan early on Saturday local time, barely 24 hours after a smaller quake hit the same region and killed nine people.
Japanese media said residents were reporting people trapped in damaged buildings as a result.
Meanwhile, residents of Mashiki, hit by the first earthquake that left at least nine dead, queued for water in rubble-strewn streets on Friday, many facing a second night of uncertainty away from their ruined homes.
Rescuers continued to search for survivors after the quake that also injured hundreds, although officials said the death toll was unlikely to rise significantly.
Tens of thousands of people fled their homes after the 6.5-magnitude quake struck the south-western island of Kyushu on Thursday night.
Houses collapsed, factories stopped work and a high-speed train was derailed, while the roof of the treasured Kumamoto castle in the city of the same name was also damaged.
“We tried our best to take all our belongings and go to a shelter by car,” said Haruki Ito, 62, whose house tilted 45 degrees after the quake. “Our dogs got so scared and hid inside the collapsed house,” he said.
Dozens of aftershocks followed the quake and officials warned the death toll could still rise as rescuers scoured the collapsed structures. But chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said that the death toll was unlikely to increase and that search operations were continuing just to make sure.
He said that prime minister Shinzo Abe planned to visit Kumamoto on Saturday to meet victims.
Hours after the quake struck, an eight-month-old baby girl was pulled from the rubble alive and unharmed.
“As far as we can tell, there appears to be a significant number of houses destroyed or half-collapsed,” said disaster minister Taro Kono.
Rescuers were focusing their searches in Mashiki, near the quake epicentre, where eight of the nine deaths occurred.
A rescue team with search dogs patrolled around half-collapsed houses in the town, but no new deaths had been announced for more than 14 hours.
Scores of people spent the night huddled near Mashiki’s town hall, some in tears, while others wrapped themselves in blankets to ward off the night chill. By Friday afternoon, the government said it had confirmed that 881 people were injured, at least 52 seriously. The Kumamoto disaster agency said at least nine were dead.
Gen Aoki, a seismologist, urged residents to be on guard for more aftershocks and warned rain in coming days could make the situation worse.
About 24,900 homes in Kumamoto prefecture were left without water, according to the government, a big improvement from an earlier figure of about 57,000 households.
Nuclear plants in the region were unaffected, but several major manufacturers, including Honda, Bridgestone and Sony, said they had suspended operations at factories in the area.
Train services on Kyushu were temporarily halted and a bullet train derailed, luckily while empty, said Yusuke Nanri, a spokesman for operator JR Kyushu. Bullet train services remained suspended, JR said on its website.
About 1,600 military personnel, nearly 2,000 police officers and more than 1,300 firefighters helped in the search and rescue efforts, Mr Suga said. The initial quake, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, was followed two and a half hours later by another measuring 6.4 magnitude, according to Japan’s meteorological agency.
More than 130 tremors rocked the region after the first one hit, and officials said this could continue for a week or so.
Japan, one of the most seismically active countries in the world, suffered a huge quake on March 11, 2011 that sent a tsunami crashing into the north-east coast, leaving about 18,500 people dead or missing.
* Agence France-Presse
