The death toll from a powerful earthquake in south-west Japan has risen to 13 as rescue workers race to find more survivors trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture late on Tuesday, damaging roads and buildings, shutting rail services and forcing thousands of people to evacuate to emergency shelters.
Three of the victims died at the Aeon Mall in Kashima after part of the second floor collapsed, according to the fire department.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed condolences to the families of those who died and thanked emergency workers for their response.
“It’s a race against time,” Takaichi said in an update on Wednesday morning.
The Japan Meteorological Agency initially measured the earthquake at magnitude 7.1 before the US Geological Survey later revised it to 6.8. The agency said the shallow earthquake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres, about 20 kilometres south of Kumamoto city.
Fire officials said the second floor of the Aeon shopping mall in Kashima collapsed. Video from the scene showed smoke rising from the building as people fled into the car park. Large sections of the mall’s exterior were torn away, exposing its steel framework.
Eight people have been rescued from the shopping centre. Local broadcaster NHK reported that fewer people remain trapped than the initial estimate of between 20 and 30.
Elsewhere, television footage showed cracked roads, damaged bridges and several buildings on fire. Train services were suspended while thousands of homes lost electricity.
Felix Umland, a German photography student staying on the 13th floor of a hotel in Kagoshima, about 175 kilometres from the epicentre, described the shaking.
“I just heard glasses flying in the kitchen and everything in the kitchen started breaking. There’s not much you can do, it’s a pretty hopeless situation. You’re looking around waiting for it to stop,” he told BBC’s Newshour programme.
“In Japan the buildings are built to move with the earth but it feels like the building beneath you turns into liquid. It’s a very surreal feeling. The solid ground just suddenly turned into a mass that was moving,” Umland said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the earthquake caused no damage or safety concerns at the Sendai Nuclear Power Plant, located about 100 kilometres from the epicentre.
“The IAEA will continue to monitor the situation,” it said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Japan’s Self-Defence Forces, fire services and coast guard had been deployed to support rescue efforts.
“We urge residents in areas where the shaking was particularly severe to pay close attention to evacuation information issued by local authorities via radio, television and the internet, and to act calmly,” he said.
Takaichi said 3,600 soldiers would join disaster recovery efforts as aftershocks continued. The Japan Meteorological Agency has recorded more than 60 aftershocks ranging between magnitudes 1 and 4.
Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, recording about 1,500 earthquakes each year. In 2016, a series of powerful earthquakes in Kumamoto killed 278 people.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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