Death Toll in Japan Earthquake Rises to 30 

By Staff, Agencies 

The death toll from the powerful earthquake that hit Japan on Tuesday has risen to 30, as the search for survivors trapped in a badly damaged shopping center, paper mill and collapsed homes across the south-west of the country continues.

The 6.8-magnitude quake, which struck Kumamoto prefecture on the island of Kyushu, injured at least 62 people, according to the prefectural government.

Almost 5000 Self-Defense Forces [SDF] personnel deployed to the region face temperatures of up to 35C on Thursday, officials said, adding that a 5.8-magnitude aftershock overnight had further hampered the rescue efforts.

The company said about 3000 customers were evacuated to a car park before a gas explosion occurred in another part of the shopping center. Six of the 12 people pulled from the rubble have died.

Everyone caught in the explosion was a shop worker who had returned to the building after the evacuation, Aeon said. The company’s president bowed in apology at a press conference on Wednesday, saying Aeon had failed to anticipate the explosion, the cause of which was being investigated.

Japanese media footage from inside the shopping center showed part of the ceiling had collapsed, with metal fragments and other debris scattered across the floor as helmeted, masked rescue workers searched the area.

Police and SDF personnel are continuing to search for one worker in the debris at the Nippon Paper mill in Yatsushiro, where a chimney collapsed. Ten others had become trapped, eight of whom died and two of whom were injured.

In the first reported death of a foreign national, a Vietnamese technical intern was killed after a crane fell on him at the factory where he worked, according to the Vietnamese government.

Nearly 23000 homes are without electricity and 75000 without running water, Kumamoto officials said. About 15000 people have been evacuated to 400 shelters.

The defense minister said on Wednesday evening that the SDF was airlifting coolers to shelters in Kumamoto, while SDF vessels were delivering water and food.