The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Aftershocks from Thursday’s quake continue to rattle area
Hundreds of calls reported from trapped residents.
A man cries as he talks with his sister on a phone while an operation to rescue their father continues in Mashiki in southern Japan on Saturday. A powerful earthquake struck the area early Saturday, barely 24 hours after a smaller quake hit the same region.
MASHIKI, JAPAN — A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 struck southern Japan early today, 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, and rescue efforts were underway.
More than 400 people were treated at hospitals, but most of their injuries were not life-threatening, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said.
Meanwhile, the Kumamoto prefecture reported that a tenth person had died in the 6.5 magnitude quake that struck late Thursday.
The second quake shook the Kumamoto region at 1:25 a.m. today, and several aftershocks soon followed. Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued an advisory for a tsunami 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.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, in an emergency news conference, 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, looking tired, said damage from the quake could be “extensive” and urged rescue workers to do their utmost to help those trapped in the rubble.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were found at the Sendai nuclear plant, where two reactors are online — the only ones among Japan’s 43 that are currently operating.
Since today’s quake was bigger, Thursday’s was technically a foreshock, a Meteorological Agency official, Gen Aoki, told a news conference.
Saturday’s temblor hit residents who were still in shock from the previous night’s quake and had suffered through more than 100 aftershocks in the interim.
Yuichiro Yoshikado said Thursday’s quake stuck as he was taking a bath in his apartment in Mashiki.
“I grabbed onto the sides of the bathtub, but the water in the tub, it was about 70 percent filled with water, was going like this,” he said, waving his arms, “and all the water splashed out.”
“It’s as if all control was lost. I thought I was going to die and I couldn’t bear it any longer.”
A bright spot, broadcast repeatedly on television Friday, was the overnight rescue of an apparently uninjured baby, wrapped in a blanket and carried out of the rubble of a collapsed home.
About 44,000 people stayed in shelters after Thursday’s quake.