Death toll rises to 41 people after second earthquake hits region, injuring at least 1,500 others
CHRISTY LEUNG, ZHUANG PINGHUI AND AGENCIES
UPDATED : Saturday, 16 April, 2016, 11:47pm
A woman stands in front of her damaged house in Mashiki, Kumamoto prefecture. Photo: AFP
At least 20 people were killed yesterday by the second earthquake to hit south-western Japan in two days, prompting Hong Kong to issue a travel warning for its citizens, while 20 Chinese tourists were rescued in the disaster zone.
The Security Bureau said it was closely monitoring the situation in Kumamoto Prefecture in the Kyushu region following the magnitude 7.3 quake at 1:25 am on Saturday, Japan time.
The total number of fatalities since a strong temblor in the same region barely a day earlier had reached 41 by Saturday night.
“Residents who plan to visit Kumamoto Prefecture or are already there should monitor the local situation, exercise caution, attend to personal safety, avoid travelling to earthquake-affected areas and pay attention to advice of the local authorities, particularly on possible aftershocks,” a government spokesman said.
Kyushu is one of the top destinations for group tours and individual travellers from Hong Kong, but Kumamoto is not a hot pick among the seven prefectures of the region.
A rail track is swept away by a landslide caused by the earthquake in Minamiaso, Kumamoto prefecture. Photo: AP
Travel Industry Council executive director Joseph Tung Yau-chung said around 400 Hongkongers from 15 tours were in Kyushu yesterday. All were safe and carrying on with their holiday.
Local agency Worldwide Package Travel cancelled at least five tours to Kyushu organised up to April 20. Around 150 Hongkongers who had signed up would have their tour fees refunded. “Many hotels in Kumamoto have shut down due to the earthquake. Some tour members were worried about safety so we cancelled the trips,” said the agency’s executive director, Yuen Chun-ning.
Another travel agency, EGL Holdings Company, also scrapped two tours to Kyushu upon customers’ request, but said there was no need for further cancellations as Kumamoto was just an intermediate stop.
Hong Kong Airlines, which operates direct flights between the city and Kumamoto every Monday and Friday, said ticket holders for this month could switch to alternative destinations.
Japanese police rescued 20 Chinese tourists who were stranded in a hotel in the area of Mount Aso, the country’s largest active volcano which erupted for the first time in a month, adding to the alarm.
Vice-consul Zhang Mei of the Chinese consulate-general in Fukuoka told state broadcaster CCTV
that the stranded tourists, mostly aged above 60, were safe. There were no reports of Chinese casualties.
A woman reacts in front of collapsed house caused by an earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan. Photo: Reuters
Japanese army troops and other rescuers rushed to save scores of trapped residents after the quake hit barely 24 hours after the first tremor, with a magnitude of 6.5, killed 10 people.
Officials said about 1,500 were injured and hundreds of thousands left without running water or electricity.
Rainfall threatened to further complicate the relief operation and set off more mudslides in isolated rural towns, where people were waiting to be rescued from collapsed homes.
Television footage showed people huddled in blankets, sitting or lying down shoulder-to-shoulder on the floors of evacuation centres.
Evacuees queue for food supplies at an entrance of the Kumamoto City Hall. Photo: AFP
Tajima said 184 people were injured seriously, and more than 91,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. More than 200 houses and other buildings were either destroyed or damaged, she said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed concern about secondary disasters as forecasters predicted rain and strong winds after landslides cut off roads and destroyed bridges, slowing down rescuers.
Police received scores of reports of people trapped or buried under collapsed buildings.
TV stations broadcast footage of a collapsed student dormitory at Aso city’s Tokai University that was originally two floors, but now looked like a single-storey building. Two students were reported to have died there.
The quakes’ epicentres were relatively shallow – about 10km – and close to the surface, resulting in more severe shaking and damage. National broadcaster NHK said as many as eight quakes were being felt an hour in the area.
One massive landslide tore open a mountainside in Kumamoto’s Minamiaso village all the way from the top to a highway below. Another gnawed at a highway, collapsing a house that fell down a ravine and smashed at the bottom. In another part of the village, houses were left hanging precariously at the edge of a huge hole cut open in the earth.
Rescue workers conduct a search and rescue operation to a collapsed house at a landslide site caused by earthquakes in Minamiaso town. Photo: Reuters
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the number of troops in the area was being raised to 20,000, while additional police and firefighters also deployed.
“Please let’s help each other and stay calm,” he said in a nationally televised news conference.
At a hot springs resort, dozens of people trapped were picked up by military helicopters, Asahi TV reported.
The historic Aso Shrine, a picturesque complex near the volcano, was seriously damaged, with a number of buildings with curved tiled roofs flattened on the ground like lopsided fans.
A towering gate, known as the “cherry blossom gate” because of its grandeur, especially during spring, collapsed.
The Nuclear Regulation Authority reported no abnormalities at Kyushu’s Sendai nuclear plant.
A woman seeks refuge under furniture at a hotel in Kumamoto. Photo: Kyodo
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1936342/hongkongers-warned-avoid-quake-hit-disaster-zone
