At least 13 people have been killed in southwestern Japan after a magnitude-7.1 earthquake, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday, as rescuers searched for survivors of collapses at a shopping mall and a paper mill.“Even now, there are people waiting to be rescued, and this is a race against time.We will marshal all available resources on the ground to save and rescue as many people as possible,” Takaichi told reporters in Tokyo.The quake struck Tuesday afternoon in Kumamoto prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu at a relatively shallow depth of 6 miles, prompting tsunami warnings and evacuation from coastal areas.
The epicenter was about 12 miles south of the city of Kumamoto, which has a population of about 700,000.While the tsunami warning was lifted shortly after, the quake caused extensive damage throughout the prefecture, including to historic buildings such as Kumamoto Castle, a popular tourist site that is still under repair from another deadly quake in the same area in 2016.It also ruptured roads and left thousands of homes without power, with officials warning residents to beware of heat stroke as temperatures reach well into the 90s.A damaged truck and car are seen on a debris-covered road after an explosion at the Aeon mall in Kashima, Japan.Yuichi Yamazaki / AFP via Getty ImagesTwo women in their 20s were killed at the partially collapsed Aeon mall near Kumamoto, while eight others have been pulled alive from the rubble.
Mall officials said Wednesday that four people were still missing and that they were investigating whether a gas leak caused an explosion.Seven people are also missing after a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the city of Yatsushiro, Reuters reported, citing a local government official.Thousands of soldiers have been deployed to assist rescue teams across the affected area, while hospitals have treated dozens of people for injuries.
Some of those injured were passengers on Japan’s...