Search for Japan quake survivors intensifies as thousands evacuated from homes
April 17, 2016
A university student (R) takes a rest in front of their collapsed apartment caused by earthquakes in Minamiaso town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
View photos
ricky l9 seconds ago
阿弥陀佛 ！！！
新加净土。
九品莲花生。
Amituofo !!!
Newly added Pureland.
9 Grade Lotus.
ricky l19 seconds ago
地球于宙净土 ！！！
ricky l8 seconds ago
1 wrong move - very powerderful impact.
ricky l9 seconds ago
天崩地裂
ricky l9 seconds ago
阿弥陀经。
无量寿经。
JohnnyO9 hours ago
Dante8 hours ago- ricky l9 seconds ago
Rescuers race against landslides to reach Japan quake victims
Rescuers were racing against the weather and the threat of more landslides Sunday to reach people still trapped by two big earthquakes that hit southern Japan.
- Posted 17 Apr 2016 09:19
MASHIKI, JAPAN: Rescuers were racing against the weather and the threat of more landslides Sunday to reach people still trapped by two big earthquakes that hit southern Japan.
At last 41 people are known to have died in the double disaster, with at least six still missing -- feared buried in shattered houses or under torrents of mud.
Heavy rain was lashing the area around Kumamoto, where officials have warned quake-loosened hillsides could be at risk of collapse as aftershocks continued to roil the ground.
The weather was also bringing further misery to those who survived Thursday's initial quake and the bigger, more powerful tremor that hit early Saturday.
In the badly-affected town of Mashiki, few of the traditional style wooden houses remained intact, and their occupants described the hardships of surviving in the destruction.
"I sleep in a car and stay in this tent during the day," Seiya Takamori, 52, told AFP, gesturing to a shelter made from a blue plastic tarp.
"In this area, we all knew there was an active fault running underneath the town of Mashiki, but no one really cared about it.
"We always said to each other that a big quake would hit at some point, but not really taking it seriously."
Neighbour Masanori Masuda, 59, was also fending off the weather in a makeshift tent.
He said many houses were in reasonable shape after the first tremor, but had suffered badly when the second quake struck, leaving occupants without basic necessities.
"I need batteries to charge my mobile phone. Also, I need a toilet. I am afraid of going into the battered house, but I cannot help it. I take a bucket of water with me and have to use the toilet in the house," he said.
The two quakes triggered enormous landslides that swept away homes, roads and railway lines, and reduced even modern buildings to rubble.
More than 90,000 people have been evacuated, including 300 from an area near a dam thought to be at risk of collapse.
Isolated villages in mountainous areas near the city of Kumamoto were completely cut off by landslides and damage to roads. At least 500 people were believed trapped in one settlement.
Aerial footage showed a bridge on a main trunk road had crashed onto the carriageway below it, its pillars felled.
The government said Saturday that there were "multiple locations where people have been buried alive" as it sent in 25,000 troops, firefighters, medics and other rescue personnel.
AFTERSHOCKS
Around 400 aftershocks have rocked Kumamoto and other parts of central Kyushu, an area unaccustomed to the powerful quakes that regularly rattle other parts of Japan.
Thursday's initial quake affected older buildings and killed nine people, but Saturday's brought newer structures crashing down, including a municipal office in the city of Uto.
The combined death toll remained at 41 and six people are unaccounted for, local officials said Sunday.
Nearly 1,000 people have been hurt, 184 of them seriously.
Around 80,000 households were still without electricity, Kyushu Electric Power said, while about 320,000 homes were reportedly without water.
Japan, one of the world's most seismically active countries, suffered a massive undersea quake on March 11, 2011 that sent a tsunami barrelling into its northeast coast.
Some 18,500 people were left dead or missing, and several nuclear reactors went into meltdown at the Fukushima plant in the worst atomic accident in a generation.
Japan's only working nuclear plant, southwest of Saturday's epicentre, was unaffected by the quakes, the government has said.
- AFP
Damaged infrastructure hinders search, aid for Japan quake survivors
The desperate search for survivors intensified on Sunday in the splintered remains of buildings destroyed by Japan's deadly earthquake and authorities ordered nearly a quarter of a million people from their homes amid fears of further quakes.
- Posted 17 Apr 2016 03:01
- Updated 17 Apr 2016 15:10
A woman reacts in front of collapsed house caused by an earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
A university student (R) takes a rest in front of their collapsed apartment caused by earthquakes in Minamiaso town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
Parents cry after confirming that their daughter was found dead at their collapsed house after earthquakes in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
A car hangs on a collapsed road caused by an earthquakes in Minamiaso town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
Local residents look at cracks caused by an earthquake on a road in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
A woman is carried away by rescue workers after being rescued from her collapsed home caused by an earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
Damaged Uto city government building caused by an earthquake is seen in Uto, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
Romon gate (bottom R), designated as a nationally important cultural property, and other buildings damaged by an earthquake are seen at Aso Shrine in Aso, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo
TOKYO: The desperate search for survivors intensified on Sunday in the splintered remains of buildings destroyed by Japan's deadly earthquake and authorities ordered nearly a quarter of a million people from their homes amid fears of further quakes.
A 7.3 magnitude tremor struck early on Saturday morning, killing at least 32 people, injuring about a thousand more and causing widespread damage to houses, roads and bridges.
It was the second major quake to hit Kumamoto province on the island of Kyushu in just over 24 hours. The first, late on Thursday, killed nine people.
Three nuclear plants in the region were unaffected by the quake, but the Nuclear Regulation Authority said it will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.
A massive 9 magnitude quake and tsunami in northern Japan in 2011 caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986, shutting down the nuclear industry for safety checks. The first reactor to restart was Kyushu Electric's Sendai No. 1, which is at one of the plants in the region hit on Saturday.
The Kumamoto region is an important manufacturing hub and factories for companies including Sony Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Toyota halted production as they assessed damage. Sony's factory supplies Apple with image sensors for iPhones.
All commercial flights to the damaged Kumamoto airport were cancelled and Japan's bullet train to the region suspended. Expressways are closed in wide areas because of landslides and cracks in the road surface, hindering supplies of water and food reaching survivors.
DIGGING BY HAND FOR SURVIVORS
Rescuers on Sunday searched for dozens of people feared trapped or buried alive.
In the village of Minamiaso, 11 people remain "out of contact", said public broadcaster NHK. Rescuers pulled 10 students out of a collapsed university apartment in the same settlement on Saturday.
“In Minamiaso, where the damage is concentrated, there may still be people trapped under collapsed buildings, so we are focusing our attention and rescue and search efforts in this area,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
Overnight, rescuers digging with their bare hands dragged some elderly survivors, still in their pyjamas, out of the rubble and onto makeshift stretchers made of tatami mats.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would boost the number of troops helping to 25,000 and had accepted a U.S offer of help with air transportation in the rescue efforts.
Heavy rains fuelled worries of more landslides and with hundreds of aftershocks and fears of more quakes, thousands spent the night in evacuation centres.
"It's full in there. There's not a inch to sleep or even walk about in there. It's impossible in there," a resident of Mashiki town said outside an evacuation centre.
Another survivor said the cleanup would be extensive.
"I can't even imagine when we can start the recovery process. My home is a mess, I don't know what to do next. And all these people affected."
Firefighters handed out tarpaulins to residents so they could cover damaged roofs, but many homes were simply deserted.
About 422,000 households were without water and 100,000 without electricity, the government said. NHK said around 240,000 people had received evacuation orders across the affected region amid fears of landslides.
Troops set up tents for evacuees and water trucks were being sent to the area while television footage showed people stranded after the fall of a bridge being rescued by helicopters.
The National Police Agency said 32 people had been confirmed dead in Saturday's quake. The government said about 190 of those injured were in a serious condition.
"RING OF FIRE"
On the other side of the Pacific, Ecuador was also struggling with the aftermath of a major 7.8 quake which hit on Saturday, killing at least 28 people and sparking a tsunami warning.
Both Japan and Ecuador are on the seismically active "ring of fire" around the Pacific Ocean. Japan's 2011 quake and tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people.
The epicentre of Saturday's quake was near the city of Kumamoto and measured at a shallow depth of 10 km (six miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. The shallower a quake, the more likely it is to cause damage.
The city's 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle was badly damaged, with its walls breached after having withstood bombardment and fire in its four centuries of existence.
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, speaking at a G20 event in Washington, said it was too early to assess the economic impact but bank operations in Kumamoto were normal.
The USGS estimated there was a 72 percent likelihood of economic damage exceeding US$10 billion, adding that it was too early to be specific. Major insurers are yet to release estimates.
(This story corrects paragraph 5 to make clear there are three nuclear plants in the quake zone, not three reactors)
(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg, Elaine Lies, William Mallard, Shinichi Soashiro, Chris Gallagher, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Miniami Funakoshi; Writing by Mike Collett-White and Michael Perry; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
- Reuters
The Associated Press
April 17, 2016
<p> In this April 15, 2016 image made from video, Yuichiro Yoshikado, 33, speaks during an interview in front of his uncle's house in Mashiki, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan. The power of the earthquakes was unlike any that most had experienced before. On back-to-back nights last week, the Japanese city of Kumamoto and nearby communities were rocked by earthquakes that knocked over dozens of homes. (Emily Wang/AP Video) </p>More
MASHIKI, Japan (AP) -- The power of the earthquakes was unlike any that most had experienced before. On back-to-back nights last week, the Japanese city of Kumamoto and nearby communities were rocked by earthquakes that knocked over dozens of homes, killed at least 41 and sent 180,000 people to temporary shelters. The voices of survivors convey the enormity of the shock that people felt and still feel today.
___
YUICHIRO YOSHIKADO, 33, Mashiki town
"It's as if all control was lost," he said. He was taking a bath when the first earthquake struck. "I thought I was going to die, and I couldn't bear it any longer, so 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 (waving his arms), and all the water splashed out of the tub."
___
YOSHIAKI TANAKA, 62, Ozu town
"Then came the big one, which was so powerful I couldn't even stand on my feet. It was horrifying," he said of the second earthquake, which left his house tilted with severe roof damage. "I don't think we can go back there. Our life is in limbo."
___
TOKIO MIYAMOTO, 75, Aso village
"I go to the evacuation center, with my futon, and come home during the day," he said. Even though his house withstood the quake, he doesn't want to sleep by himself at night. "It's a hassle, but it's too scary to be alone."
