Japan earthquake kills 13 as rescuers search for survivors

A powerful Japan earthquake has killed at least 13 people and left rescuers searching for survivors trapped under collapsed buildings, officials said Wednesday.

The 7.1-magnitude quake struck Kumamoto on Tuesday, flattening homes, triggering fires, rupturing bridges and cutting power to tens of thousands of households across the southwestern region.

How many people have died in the Japan earthquake?

At least 13 people have died in the Kumamoto earthquake, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed Wednesday, citing collapsed buildings, fires and damaged roads. Seven others suffered serious injuries, government spokesman Minoru Kihara said. More than 9,000 people have taken shelter in 506 evacuation centers across three regions of Kyushu island as rescue operations continue.

What was it like when the earthquake struck?

Some residents described the tremor as the strongest they had ever felt, registering at the top of Japan's seven-level shindo intensity scale, at which standing upright becomes impossible. The region endured twin earthquakes in 2016 that killed hundreds of people, and many locals feared a repeat of that devastation. Kanzo Matsumoto, 73, who operates a hot spring inn in Yatsushiro, told AFP it was the strongest quake he had ever experienced and questioned whether the region could recover.

Chiharu Hara, a 35-year-old recruitment agent, said her office swayed violently from side to side and that everyone around her panicked.

What happened at the Kashima shopping mall?

At least two of the dead were women killed in a shopping mall in the town of Kashima, apparently gutted by a gas explosion about half an hour after the quake. Rescue workers picked through twisted steel, dangling cables and collapsed ceiling panels shown in footage from inside the mall. A spokesman for mall operator Aeon said the explosion occurred after customers and staff had evacuated.

Eight people were rescued from the mall, five of them injured, a local official said. Initial reports suggested 20 to 30 people were trapped inside, but broadcaster NHK cited police early Wednesday as saying the number was lower than that.

Are people still missing after the earthquake?

Nine people remain unaccounted for at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro, where part of a red and white smokestack collapsed onto the facility below, officials said. Across Kumamoto, 36,880 households and facilities were still without power on Wednesday morning.

What damage did the earthquake cause?

The quake struck at 4:27 p.m. (0727 GMT) on Tuesday and was measured at 6.8 by the US Geological Survey at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). It knocked over a cargo train, flattened a traditional torii gateway and cracked roads, leaving many impassable. High-speed shinkansen trains remained suspended on Wednesday.

Footage also showed part of a wall collapsing at the centuries-old Kumamoto Castle. Kumamoto airport closed for several hours before reopening Tuesday evening.

How is Japan responding to the earthquake?

Japan's military has mobilized 3,600 personnel for disaster relief and sent 20 aircraft to assess the damage from the air, the defense minister said.

Why does Japan experience so many earthquakes?

Japan is one of the world's most seismically active countries, sitting atop four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific's Ring of Fire. The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences hundreds of jolts each year and accounts for about 18 percent of the world's earthquakes. Most are mild, though the damage they cause varies with their location and the depth below the Earth's surface at which they strike.

Japan is still haunted by the 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.