NewzAround-the-clock rescue efforts are underway in Japan following Tuesday's deadly earthquake. It struck southern Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture. In our news wrap Tuesday, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake damaged buildings in southern Japan, Seattle police say that the 15-year-old arrested during this weekend's mass shooting at a food festival used an untraceable "ghost gun" with an extended magazine and Florida is set to become the first state in nearly ten years to carry out two executions in a single day.
Dozens of people were hospitalized after the earthquake hit southern Japan. According to media reports, at least two women were killed after a shopping mall partially collapsed in the town of Kashima. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Japan's Kyushu island, causing building collapses, fires and widespread damage.
Emergency responders illuminate the entrance of the heavily damaged Aeon Mall Kumamoto. (EPA Images pic)TOKYO: Emergency responders searched early Wednesday for people feared trapped in a shopping mall in Japan after a major earthquake toppled buildings, sparked fires and reportedly killed one person and injured more than 100.Private broadcaster TBS reported that a "considerable number" of people were feared dead inside the mall in the town of Kashima after the fire brigade said that the second floor collapsed in the 7.1-magnitude tremor on Tuesday afternoon.As night fell, regional officials said they believed 10 people were unaccounted for in the mall, public broadcaster NHK reported. It earlier cited police as saying between 20 and 30 of the mall's employees could not be contacted.Police told AFP earlier that they could not confirm any fatalities inside the badly damaged building.
Kyodo News reported that four people had been taken to hospital, all of them conscious.Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae late Tuesday pledged that emergency responders would work "tirelessly" through the night "starting with the rescue and lifesaving of those affected."Multiple people were also believed to be unaccounted for at a factory in Yatsushiro city where the tip of a chimney fell down, NHK reported, citing sources.One person was killed when a house collapsed during the quake, Kyodo reported.NHK aired footage from elsewhere in the southwestern Kumamoto region on Kyushu island showing several blazes, damaged bridges, a derailed cargo train and a number of houses threatening to topple over.The tremor at 4.27 pm had a magnitude of 7.1, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said, but reached the highest level of seven on Japan's Shindo scale.The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.8.A succession of aftershocks followed, including one with a magnitude of 6.1 at 5:08 pm.Hundreds of earthquakes strike Japan every year, but the vast majority cause little damage.Power outages, firesChiharu Hara, a 35-year-old recruitment agent who was in Kumamoto, told AFP that she was "terrified" when the quake struck."The office swayed violently side to side. Everyone panicked," Hara said.Footage verified by AFP showed heavy vehicles, street lights and traffic lights swaying vigorously for about twenty seconds.Elsewhere, vehicles on a two-lane road in the prov… A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto, Japan, causing widespread damage, injuries and fears of deaths.
There are fears of multiple deaths after a major earthquake struck Japan.
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