Tokyo: A new earthquake
of 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit southern Japan on Friday — the second powerful
temblor in less than 24 hours —with reports of people being trapped in fallen
buildings and houses.
The death toll in the
Kyushu earthquake rose to 19 people, according to Kumamoto Prefecture's
disaster management office. The tremors appear to have caused extensive damage,
overturning cars, splitting roads and triggering a landslide. The area was
rocked by as many as 165 aftershocks, some of them as strong as 5.3 magnitude
struck in the hours after the quake.
Japan's Fire and
Disaster Management Agency said 7,262 people have sought shelter at 375 centers
since Friday in Kumamoto Prefecture. A total of 20,000 self-defense forces are
being deployed to the region for rescue efforts.
Chief Cabinet Secretary
Yoshihide Suga, in an emergency news conference on Searly 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. He said 1,600 soldiers joined rescue efforts. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
said damage from the 7.3 quake magnitude quake could be extensive. The Nuclear
Regulation Authority reported no abnormalities at Kyushu's Sendai nuclear
plant.
More than 100,000
displaced people are still unable to return to their homes near
the nuclear plant because of the contamination.
Japan is frequently hit
by major quakes. In March 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake led to a devastating
tsunami that killed 18,000 people along Japan’s northeast coast.
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