ALWAGHT- Second strong earthquake, a magnitude-7.3 quake, rocked Japan early Saturday, killing at least 19 people, injuring many more and bringing down buildings, just over a day after a magnitude-6.2 quake killed nine others.
According to Japantimes.co.jp, The powerful shaking triggered a huge landslide that swept away homes and cut off a national highway in Minamiaso, and unlike
the earlier quake which mostly affected old houses, larger buildings were damaged and some toppled across Kumamoto, the epicenter of the quakes. Local officials said the Aso Ohashi Bridge in the village had also collapsed.
Heavy rain forecast for the coming days could cause more landslides and affect already damaged structures, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Separately, an active volcano in the area erupted Saturday morning, a local government official said, cautioning, however, it was unclear if the small-scale event was linked to the quakes.
Public broadcaster NHK, meanwhile, put the death toll at 19 and said there were at least 760 people injured, while a government spokesperson said scores were trapped or buried alive.
The Kumamoto Prefectural Police said they have received reports of 97 cases of people trapped or buried under collapsed buildings.
Residents living near a dam were told to leave because of fears it might crumble, NHK said.
Saturday’s temblor triggered a tsunami advisory, although it was later lifted and no irregularities were reported at three nuclear power plants in the area, a senior government official said.
People still reeling from Thursday’s shock poured onto the streets after the Saturday quake struck at 1:25 a.m. The 7.3-magnitude quake Saturday matches that of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.
The earthquake on Thursday evening in the same region was of 6.4 magnitude and experts said the tectonic events could be linked.
“Thursday’s quake might have been a foreshock of this one,” Shinji Toda, a professor at Tohoku University, told NHK.
Several aftershocks rattled the region later Saturday, including two of nearly magnitude 6, and experts warned of more.
“We would not be surprised to see more earthquakes of this size,” said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
A magnitude-9 quake in March 2011 in the Tohoku region touched off a massive tsunami and nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima. Nearly 20,000 people were killed in the tsunami.
Japan is on the seismically active “ring of fire” around the Pacific Ocean and has building codes aimed at helping structures withstand earthquakes.
