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 nine people.
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 nine people.
While it was not immediately clear whether the latest quake increased the death toll, 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. No other details were immediately available.
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.
The 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 the town 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, looking tired, said damage from the magnitude 7.3 quake could be “extensive” and urged rescue workers to do their utmost to help those trapped in the rubble.
Sirens of patrol vehicles could be heard in the background as NHK reported from Mashiki. The asphalt outside the town hall had a new crack, apparently made by the latest earthquake. In nearby Uto City, police reported that the City Hall building appeared to be unsafe because of damage.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were found at the Sendai nuclear plant, where the only two of Japan’s 43 reactors are online. NHK video showed stones tumbled from the walls of historic Kumamoto Castle, and a wooden structure in the complex was smashed, adding to damage from Thursday’s quake.
At the Ark Hotel, east of the castle, hotel guests woke up to strong shaking and a warning siren. Hotel staff told guests, including tourists and journalists covering the quake, to evacuate their rooms and gather in the lobby for safety.
Thursday’s weaker magnitude 6.5 earthquake brought down buildings and injured about 800 people, in addition to the nine 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.