'Several dead' inside collapsed shopping centre after 6.8 magnitude earthquake hits Japan
Multiple people have been killed after a shopping mall collapsed during the 6.8-magnitude earthquake in southern Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture.
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The second floor at the Aeon Mall shopping centre in Kashima Town caved in trapping an unknown number of people as a result of the explosion.
Rescue operations were being carried out, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Japanese news agency NHK reported around 20 to 30 workers there could not be reached by emergency services.
One side of the mall, which houses around 200 stores, was torn away, exposing steel beams and strewing debris across a vast parking lot, footage showed.
Kazuya Tsurunaga said he was stunned by the blast while cleaning up dishes broken by the earthquake inside a pub about 300 metres from the Aeon mall.
He said: "It was a huge impact.A large cloud of smoke billowed up, and because the wind happened to be blowing and the wind direction was towards the shop, the area around us was in a state like volcanic ash was falling."
The Aeon Mall had just reopened last month as a shopping and entertainment complex to commemorate its recovery from a deadly tremor a decade ago.
The Aeon Mall had just reopened last month as a shopping and entertainment complex to commemorate its recovery from a deadly tremor a decade ago.
At least 50 people are being treated in hospital so far, according to local media.
Trains have been suspended and thousands of homes have had their power shut off.
A tsunami alert of a wave of up to one metre was activated after the quake and then rescinded.
More than 150,000 people have been told to move to evacuation shelters
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Trains have been suspended and thousands of homes have had their power shut off.
A tsunami alert of a wave of up to one metre was activated after the quake and then rescinded.
More than 150,000 people have been told to move to evacuation shelters
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that several injuries, collapsed buildings and fires had been reported.
"We are still assessing the extent of injuries and property damage, but I have been informed that there have already been several injuries," the Prime Minister said.
The Japanese government issued emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures, all on Japan's southern Kyushu island.
About 45,000 households and facilities have no power in the Kumamoto region, according to local utility Kyushu Electric Power.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, experiencing about 1,500 quakes a year.