Japan 2 earthquakes more than 40 killed 90,000 evacuated

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Over 40 killed, 90,000 evacuated as Japan hit by 2 powerful quakes & devastating landslides

Dozens of people are feared trapped under rubble in southern Japan, as the death toll from two earthquakes has climbed to 41. The search for survivors is in full swing, while 90,000 people have been evacuated from their homes to safer locations.

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Over 200 aftershocks have hit Japan following the initial Thursday tremor of 6.5-magnitude, which hit the city of Kumamoto on the island of Kyushu. Officials have warned that the risk of further strong aftershocks will linger for about a week.

About 190 of the injured are in serious condition, the Japanese government said.

Only 24 hours later the same areas was struck by a violent 7.1-magnitude earthquake. The Japan Meteorological Agency briefly issued tsunami warnings for the areas that were still recovering from Thursday’s devastating tremors.

The overall death toll from the two quakes now stands at 41, with more than 1,000 people injured - 184 of them seriously.

About 90,000 people in Kumamoto Prefecture were evacuated to shelters, authorities say.

“We are aware of multiple locations where people have been buried alive,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. “Police, firefighters and Self Defense Force personnel are doing all they can to rescue them.”

The death toll in the earthquakes may be climbing by the hour, Kumamoto Prefectural official Tomoyuki Tanaka said.

About 170,000 households were without electricity and 385,000 without water following the powerful quakes.

Yuichiro Yoshikado described his experience during Thursday’s earthquake to AP. He was in the bathroom at the time.

"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."

"I thought I was going to die and I couldn't bear it any longer," he added.

Among 29 casualties are two students from Tokai University.

“We offer our sincerest prayers for the two,” said a University statement. “We're trying to confirm the safety of other students.”

“I felt strong shaking at first, then I was thrown about like I was in a washing machine,” a Tokai University student told local media, “All the lights went out and I heard a loud noise. A lot of gas is leaking and while there hasn't been a fire, that remains a concern.”

The quakes triggered massive landslides, which cut off roads and destroyed bridges, local media reported, adding that they imperiled rescue and relief efforts.

Meteorologists forecast heavy rain and wind, adding that the temperature is expected to drop to 13 degrees Celsius.

"The wind is expected to pick up and rain will likely get heavier," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said during a government meeting. "Rescue operations at night will be extremely difficult ... It's a race against time."

230 aftershocks hit Japan in 48hrs

The latest big aftershock came hours after the second deadly earthquake and measured magnitude 5.3.

Japan has suffered more than 230 aftershocks of at least level 1 on the Japanese scale since Thursday's earthquake, Japan's meteorological agency said.

"We have already seen several in the mid to upper 5 plus magnitude range, and over the next several days and weeks, we would not be surprised to see more earthquakes of this size," said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the USGS, as cited by Reuters.

Local residents are still in shock over the earthquakes and the following tremors.

“We left my house as we could not stay due to continuous jolts,” local resident Hisako Ogata, 61, told AFP, “It was so scary," she added. "Thank God we are still alive.”

Mount Aso volcano erupts after 2 quakes

Hours after the second deadly earthquake, the Japan Meteorological Agency recorded an eruption at Mount Aso, the largest active volcano in Japan.

The 1,592-meter volcano is nearly 30 minutes’ drive from the earthquakes epicenter. It is not yet clear if the volcano’s seismic activity is connected to the quakes.

Numerous photos and videos on social media showed plumes of smoke rising some 100 meters into the sky.

Historic monuments damaged in the quakes

Several historic monuments in Kumamoto Prefecture have been badly damaged in the quakes.

The 1,700-year-old Aso Shrine in the town of Aso, one of the oldest and most prominent shrines in Japan, has been severely damaged. Some of its curved tiled roofs were flattened on the ground.

The shrine’s towering gate, known as the “Rōmon” or “Cherry Blossom Gate” collapsed and is in ruins. The haiden or worshiping hall was also destroyed.

The Aso Shrine was officially recognized as one of the Kanpei-taisha - it stood in the first rank of government-supported shrines.

The quake has also destroyed another historic Japanese icon – the 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle, which is considered one of the three main castles in Japan. Its walls were severely breached, TV footage showed.

The castle's administrative office closed the structure to tourists.

"Please do not go close to the stone walls as aftershocks continue," the office announced on its Facebook page.

Link to Photos and Videos:

https://www.rt.com/news/339815-japan-ea ... evacuated/

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Japan earthquakes: Race to find survivors

People are going to shelters because they fear aftershocks
25,000 Japanese troops are sent to help in rescue efforts
At least 32 are dead; bad weather hampers rescue efforts

Tokyo, Japan (CNN)Heavy rains were expected through Sunday after Japan's Kyushu region was struck by twin earthquakes, hampering the search for survivors and forcing nervous residents into crowded evacuation centers.

At least 32 people have died in the latest Kyushu earthquake, according to Kumamoto Prefecture's disaster management office. The magnitude-7.0 quake hit early Saturday.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described the search for survivors amid piles of rubble as a "race against the clock," noting that bad weather had conspired with the devastating quake, its aftershocks and the threat of landslides to make a dire situation worse.

In a Sunday morning press briefing, Abe said he received an offer of help from the U.S. military but it was not urgently needed yet. Japan has deployed 25,000 self-defense forces to the rescue effort, Suga said.

At least 23 people are buried inside buildings, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

"We're racing against the clock," Abe said. "(We) will provide more personnel if necessary."

Residents were already on edge after a 6.2. quake rattled the area two days earlier, killing nine people. The combined death toll has reached 41. The two earthquakes left 968 people injured, according to the disaster management office.

"This is the worst thing that could happen to us," said Shigeru Morita, an official in the town of Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture.

The latest and most powerful earthquake struck near the city of Kumamoto, toppling buildings and bridges, shredding sections of landmarks into piles of debris, and sending frightened residents fleeing from their homes and into the night.

Thursday's earthquake

hit near Ueki city, just 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) away.

"The first earthquake was very big," said Osamu Yoshizumi, the senior chief of international affairs in Kumamoto. "We thought it was the big one."

That initial earthquake was a "foreshock" to the latest one, according to USGS.

A bigger tremor would come overnight Friday.

"When the second earthquake came everything shook and I thought I might die," said Taiki Hishida, 38, who evacuated with his wife and two young children to a crowded shelter in Mashiki.

Samuel Borer, a U.S. citizen living in Kumamoto, said the latest quake struck at about 1:30 in the morning.

"It was just pitch black in the middle of the night and everything just started to go wild," he said.

Noel Vincent went through both earthquakes.

"This extremely intense shaking began," he told CNN International. "And whereas the first earthquake was more of an up-and-down type of shaking, this was a side-to-side shaking. I can't comment on what that is seismologically but I can tell you it was very intense and I feared for my life."

Television images and photos showed empty shelves at supermarkets and stores, leaving many evacuees to line up for food and water at shelters.

"There wasn't actually enough food for everyone, which was the only problem," said Borer, speaking at an elementary school being used as a shelter. "Most of the food went to the elderly and children first."

Kumamoto Prefecture continues to experience aftershocks, with about 165 so far.

"I feel every aftershock," said Yoshizumi, who was working from the city hall building in Kumamoto. "It's swaying here every hour."

Rescue efforts

CNN International's Matt Rivers, reporting from an evacuation shelter, said the aftershocks are creating great anxiety among rescuers and residents.

"You're seeing people assigned here from one of two sorts of tracks," he said. "On the one hand, people who had their homes destroyed so they have nowhere to go. (But) the reality is that most people inside this evacuation shelter here are afraid to go home. They're not sure that maybe there might be another aftershock."

The aftershocks also could hamper rescue efforts as emergency workers attempt to pull out people trapped in the rubble. TV Asahi showed crews crawling over a collapsed roof in an attempt to find an elderly couple. An 80-year-old man was rescued from the rubble, according to CNN affiliate TV Asahi.

The tremors appear to have caused extensive damage, overturning cars, splitting roads and triggering a landslide as shown by TV Asahi footage. Television images showed flattened houses, shards of broken glass and debris piled onto the streets and people huddled outside. Nearly 92,000 people have evacuated, according to the prefecture's disaster management office.

The Kumamoto government has opened more than 100 evacuation centers for residents and has started handing out food, water and blankets, Yoshizumi said.

Kumamoto Castle, a famous site in Japan built in the early 17th century, is badly damaged, he said.

Vincent told CNN he had an annual pass and would visit the castle each month. He described extensive damage to a retaining wall and a turret at the castle.

"I was just devastated to see the damage," he said. "It's just all surreal. I can't really quite process it. ... It's such a shame to see ... a treasure like that, a national treasure like that fall to pieces."

Hundreds treated

The Red Cross treated more than 1,000 people in the Kumamoto area Friday, but the organization said it anticipates the number will increase following Saturday's earthquake.

The most serious injuries were to people cut by glass or in collapsed houses, said Nobuaki Sato, director of the International Relief Division at the Japanese Red Cross.

"We don't know what is happening in the whole disaster area because it is a remote mountain area and some big bridges were down and many landslides were found, so we were working around the clock and are making assessments," Sato said. "But so far the road access is not easy to the remote areas."

Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 7,262 people have sought shelter since Friday in the Kumamoto Prefecture.

Abe called off a planned visit to Kumamoto on Saturday. His office told CNN the prime minister would instead spearhead efforts from Tokyo. The country's air force planned to send six planes and nine ships to Kumamoto to deliver food, blankets and all emergency necessities.

Japan received offers of support from other nations.

Japan's 'Ring of Fire'

The shallow depth of the latest quake and the dense population of where it struck could prove to be devastating, according to experts.

"No question, this is a large and very important earthquake," said Doug Given, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, "and it will do a lot of damage."

The four islands of Japan are on the edge of what's traditionally been known as the 'Ring of Fire'" -- a stretch along parts of the Pacific Ocean prone to volcano activity and earthquakes.

Victor Sardina, a geophysicist in Honolulu, Hawaii, told CNN the latest quake was about 30 times more powerful than the first one near Ueki. He predicted "severe, serious implications in terms of damage and human losses."

Japanese media reported a small-scale eruption of Mt. Aso on Saturday morning. It was unclear whether it was related to the earthquake, according to the Japan's meteorological agency.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/16/asia/ ... arthquake/

[Anthea]

At least 767 earthquakes of 1-magnitude or stronger have been registered in Japan’s south-western Kumamoto Prefecture (the Island of Kyushu) during the last week, the national Meteorological Agency said Thursday.

Authorities recommended the evacuation of 240,000 people due to heavy rains which could provoke landslide as aftershock continue.

More than 90,000 people are still displaced nearly a week the first of earthquakes rocked the Kyushu region, the Nikkei Asian Review reported, adding that the quakes are associated with claiming 59 lives as of Wednesday.

The persistent aftershocks will likely forestall a return to normality, according to meteorologists.