Second strong quake rattles Japan; some reported trapped
MASHIKI, Japan — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 struck southern Japan early Saturday, barely 24 hours after a smaller quake hit the same region and killed 10 people.
It was not immediately clear whether the latest quake increased the death toll, but authorities said hundreds of calls had come in from residents reporting people trapped inside houses and buildings. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 66 people were trapped inside a nursing home in Mashiki, the hardest-hit town.
Police said six people were killed in the second quake .
More than 400 people were treated at hospitals, but most of their injuries were not life-threatening, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its own tally. Video showed a resident, apparently rescued from underneath a collapsed house, on a stretcher being taken to a hospital by ambulance.
Meanwhile, the Kumamoto prefecture reported that a 10th person had died in the 6.5 magnitude quake that struck late Thursday.
The latest quake shook the Kumamoto region at 1:25 a.m. Saturday, and several aftershocks soon followed. Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued an advisory for a tsunami up to 3 feet high along the coast west of the epicenter in Kumamoto, but it was lifted less than an hour later.
The agency upgraded the magnitude to 7.3 from an initial reading of 7.1. Compared to the temblor that struck late Thursday night just south of Mashiki, the most recent quake and aftershocks appeared to be moving east, spreading damage to the northeast.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, in an emergency news conference early Saturday, said more than 300 calls came in to the Kumamoto police and another 100 to police in nearby Oita, seeking help and reporting people trapped or buried underneath debris.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said damage from the quake could be “extensive” and urged rescue workers to do their utmost to help those trapped in the rubble.
Thursday’s weaker magnitude 6.5 earthquake brought down buildings and injured about 800 people, in addition to the 10 deaths. The epicenter of Saturday’s earthquake was about 8 miles northwest of Thursday’s and, at a depth of about 6 miles, Saturday’s quake was shallower.