Rescuers scour rubble for quake survivors
Print Edition
JAPANESE rescue teams yesterday scoured the splintered remains of buildings destroyed by a series of deadly earthquakes in southern Japan as time ran out for finding survivors and as major Japanese manufacturers face production losses from supply chain disruptions.
A 7.3 magnitude tremor struck early on Saturday, killing at least 32 people, injuring about a thousand and causing widespread damage to houses, roads and bridges, with at least one mountain highway severed in two, concrete tumbling into the valley below.
In the village of Minamiaso, 11 people were “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.
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. Of more than 470 quakes hitting Kyushu since Thursday, 78 have been at least a four on Japan’s intensity scale, strong enough to shake buildings.
Three nuclear plants in the southern Japanese region were unaffected by the second quake, but the Nuclear Regulation Authority said it will hold an extraordinary meeting today to discuss the disaster.
The Kumamoto region is an important manufacturing hub. Toyota Motor Corp said it would suspend production at plants across Japan after the quakes disrupted its supply chain.
Sony Corp said its Kumamoto image sensors plant would remain closed. One of the company’s major customers for the sensors is Apple. Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co said production at its motorcycle plant in southern Japan would remain suspended through Friday.
Suga said the government may seek a supplementary budget to cover the cost of the quakes.
“We will do all that we can,” he said.
All commercial flights to the damaged Kumamoto airport were cancelled and Japan’s bullet train to the region was suspended. Expressways are closed in wide areas because of landslides and cracks in road surfaces, hindering efforts to get supplies of water and food to survivors.
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 US offer of help with air transportation.
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. It’s impossible in there,” a resident of Mashiki town said outside an evacuation center.
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