SOURCE: BBC
Japan’s fire service says many people are trapped in a shopping centre after an earthquake in Kumamoto – one witness reported the second floor collapsing
A Japanese official has told the BBC that people are unaccounted for at the centre, and at a factory after a chimney collapsed
The earthquake – estimated at 6.8 magnitude by the US Geological Survey – hit inland on Kyushu island at 16:27 local time (07:27 GMT) on Tuesday
The solid ground just suddenly turned into a mass that was moving, one eyewitness tells the BBC
Dramatic footage from inside a shop 3.5km (two miles) east of the shopping centre shows children crying and products all over the floor
Searches are continuing long into the night in south-western Japan, where emergency personnel are scouring the collapsed structure of the Aeon Mall.
Two people have been found in a state of cardiac arrest and multiple people remain unaccounted for across two sites hit by the earthquake in the Kumamoto prefecture, an official has confirmed.
An official at the Disaster Management Division of Kumamoto prefecture tells the BBC that at Nippon Paper’s Yatsushiro Plant, two people “were found in cardiac arrest” and nine people are still missing.
They also say that four people have been rescued from the Aeon Mall, and their lives are “not in danger”.
But 10 people remain unaccounted for at the shopping centre.
The prefecture is checking reports of a gas leak, the official also says.
We have verified a video showing the moment a hotel in Kumamoto was severely shaken by the earthquake.
In the clip, the high-rise REF Kumamoto hotel can be seen rocking from side-to-side but appears to withstand the force of the tremors.
Birds in nearby trees can also be seen taking flight as the building sways.
It’s the early hours of Wednesday morning in Kumamoto, where a search operation continues at the Aeon shopping mall. Here’s the latest:
Police sources say contact has been lost with 20 to 30 employees at the Aeon Mall, reports from Japan’s public broadcaster NHK suggest
Several people are also missing at a paper factory in the region, according to NHK
BBC Verify has been analysing footage of people leaving the mall in panic, and subsequent damage to its southern car park
Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier said rescue teams are being guided by the principle of “human life first” and will work “tirelessly through the night”
Japan’s Meteorological Agency says more than 60 aftershocks have been recorded – and residents are being warned to expect day-two tremors as they wake up on Wednesday morning
We’ve verified dramatic footage from inside the Kumamoto branch of retail warehouse chain Costco, 3.5km (two miles) to the east of the Aeon Mall.
One video starts with the sound of a small bang after which children can be seen crying and clinging to their parents as the lights flicker on and off.
People are also visibly trying to navigate pallets of goods that have fallen from high shelves. Some have been trapped by the falling items while others are seen trying to help them out.
More than 40,000 without power across Kyushu island, says energy providerpublished at 14:4314:43
More than 40,000 households are without power in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit inland on the island of Kyushu, according to an update on Kyushu Electric’s website.
This comes as residents in Hikawa town, which sits roughly 25 km (15 miles) south of Kumamoto City, are reporting water and electricity outages, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.
NHK says that the power and water outages are affecting “a wide area” within the town.
The outlet adds that Hikawa town hall is one of the buildings affected, and is without lighting or air conditioning after one of its two emergency power sources failed.
The town of Mashiki, pictured on 20 April 2016
The Kumamoto prefecture is no stranger to earthquakes, and has been hit by powerful ones in the past.
In 2016, the prefecture was struck by a series of earthquakes. These included a magnitude 6.5 which hit the town of Mashiki on 14 April, and a magnitude 7.3 which struck the same area two days later.
According to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, 278 people were killed by those earthquakes in Kumamoto and in the neighbouring Oita Prefecture.
There were also a number of deaths linked to health problems caused by the stress of evacuation, the outlet says.
Speaking at a press conference earlier, Shinji Kiyomoto of Japan’s Meteorological Agency asked the public to “remain vigilant” for additional earthquakes, referencing the events of 2016.
The 2016 earthquakes required an enormous recovery operation14:00
Kumamoto – where the collapsed Aeon Mall is located – is a city on the Kyushu island of Japan.
Japan doesn’t have a mainland. It is made up of four primary islands, one of which is Kyushu. The other three are Honshu, Hokkaido and Shikoku.
There are also thousands of smaller islands that sit further out.
The southern island of Kyushu is the third-largest of the four main islands in Japan, and the second most populous.
Two videos have been verified from outside the Aeon Mall showing damage to the south side of the building.
Some of the building’s facades have been ripped apart in the earthquake while large sections of an awning have been thrown across the car park to a nearby road.
Smashed advertising boards and rubble from the shopping centre are also captured in the clips.
In one video, emergency workers are preparing a trolley near a waiting ambulance.13:32
Tremors from today’s 7.1 magnitude earthquake caused historic walls at the 17th century-built Kumamoto castle to tumble.
It isn’t the first time the castle has succumbed to an earthquake, when a 7.3 magnitude quake hit the region in 2016, parts of the 400-year-old castle were also damaged when turrets and curved walls collapsed.
Several people are missing after a chimney collapsed at a paper factory in the Kumamoto prefecture, according to the police who are being cited by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.
Police and firefighters are investigating the scene at Nippon Paper Industries Yatsushiro Plant, which is located in Yatsushiro City in the wider Kumamoto prefecture, says the outlet.
An aerial photograph of the site obtained by Reuters news agency appears to show a broken and collapsed chimney.
