“Many people” were feared trapped in a stricken shopping mall in Japan late yesterday, authorities said, after a major earthquake toppled buildings, sparked fires and reportedly injured more than 100 people.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said that no Taiwanese nationals had been reported injured or otherwise affected by the quake.
Japanese private broadcaster TBS reported that a “considerable number” were feared dead inside the mall in the town of Kashima after the fire brigade said that the second floor collapsed in the magnitude 7.1 tremor.
Photo: Kyodo News via AP
Public broadcaster NHK cited police sources as saying that between 20 and 30 employees could not be contacted, showing footage of emergency vehicles with flashing red lights outside.
Police said they could not confirm any fatalities inside the building. Kyodo News reported that four people had been taken to hospital, all of them conscious.
Multiple people were also believed to be unaccounted for at a Japan Paper Industries factory 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.
Footage elsewhere in the southwestern Kumamoto region on the island of Kyushu aired by NHK earlier showed several blazes, damaged bridges, a derailed cargo train and a number of houses threatening to topple over.
The quake at 4:27pm had a magnitude of 7.1, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but reached the highest level of seven on Japan’s Shindo scale of shaking. A succession of aftershocks followed, including one with a magnitude of 6.1 at 5:08pm.
The US Geological Survey determined the magnitude of the quake at 6.8.
MOFA said its representative office in Fukuoka, which is responsible for consular affairs in Kumamoto Prefecture, immediately contacted Taiwanese nationals known to be in the affected area.
All those contacted reported they were safe, and the office had not received any requests for emergency assistance from Taiwanese citizens in Kumamoto.
MOFA urged Taiwanese in Kumamoto who require assistance to contact the Fukuoka office’s emergency hotline at +81-90-1922-9740.
The ministry also said it had informed the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s Taipei office that Taiwan stood ready to assist Japan with post-disaster relief efforts.
Many roads were closed and high-speed Shinkansen train services were suspended in the region. Kumamoto airport was closed before being re-opened last night.
Two hospitals reported taking in at least 50 injured patients each, NHK said.
“People are coming in with burns and fractures from being trapped under objects due to the earthquake, and ambulances are constantly bringing in injured people,” NHK quoted an employee at one hospital as saying.
“Inside the hospital, there are water leaks and electrical system failures,” the employee said.
The broadcaster also said that about 10 people were hurt at a nursing home for the elderly.
“We are still assessing the extent of injuries and property damage, but I have been informed that there have already been several injuries,” Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
“Power outages and fires are happening in some areas, and roads and bridges have been damaged and buildings collapsed,” she said.
The Japanese military has mobilized 3,600 personnel for disaster relief operations and sent 20 aircraft to assess the damage from the air, the minister of defense said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency initially issued an alert for a possible tsunami of up to 1m, but withdrew the warning at about 6:10pm.
Unverified footage shared on social media showed parts of a wall at the centuries-old Kumamoto Castle collapsing.
No immediate abnormalities were recorded at nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
About 45,000 households and facilities had no power in the Kumamoto region, local utility Kyushu Electric Power said.
The firm said three nuclear reactors operating in the region at the time were functioning normally.
A local NHK staffer wearing a helmet reported live on air that the shaking was continuing about half an hour after the quake, with the newsroom rocking so violently that it was difficult to remain standing.
“Including myself, there may be some people who feel their hearts racing,” the staffer said.
Kumamoto was hit by two devastating earthquakes in 2016 — one of magnitude 6.5, followed two days later by one of magnitude 7.3 — which killed 273 people and injured more than 2,800.
Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive magnitude 9.0 undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing about 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
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