Turkey- Japan quakes leave 28 dead nearly 2000 injured

4/16/2016 12:21:38 PM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) >At least 19 people were confirmed dead Saturday after a strong earthquake rocked southwestern Japan where nine others were killed in an earlier temblor.

According to Kyodo news agency nearly 2000people sustained injuries in the Kyushu region after the tremors Thursday night and early Saturday morning which had magnitudes of 6.5 and 7.3 respectively. Of the 909 confirmed wounded Saturday 171 were considered serious cases.

The deaths confirmed Saturday were recorded across Kumamoto prefecture mainly as a result of victims being crushed by collapsed buildings and falling furniture according to the local government.

Japan’s weather agency said that a small-scale eruption occurred at Mt. Aso but said any connection between the volcanic activity and tremors remained unclear.

Kumamoto police reported receiving around 100 reports of people trapped in toppled buildings and 10 of people stuck in landslides.

Around 11 people including students are believed to be trapped under four apartment buildings that collapsed near Tokai University in Aso city.

Part of the ceiling of the terminal building at Kumamoto airport caved in resulting in the cancellation of all flights in and out of the airport while the city hall of Uto partially collapsed.

Meanwhile Minamiaso was hit by a large landslide that cut off a national highway and destroyed a bridge.

No abnormalities were reported at two operating reactors at a nuclear power plant in the Kyushu region.

More than 65 aftershocks struck the area as of 11 a.m. (0200GMT) following Saturday’s quake according to public broadcaster NHK.

In Kumamoto around 69000 people evacuated their homes while power was cut to 160000 households.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told an emergency meeting Saturday that the government would do its utmost and mobilize all available resources in response to the tremors.

Kyodo also cited Defense Minister Gen Nakatani saying that up to 15000 Self-Defense Forces personnel would be deployed to Kumamoto within Saturday with another 5000 to follow Sunday.

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