Major quake hits southern Japan

Workers missing after mall blast

TOKYO:

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Japan's southern Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday, knocking out power to thousands of homes, rupturing roads and leaving some trapped and others presumed dead inside a partially collapsed shopping mall.

Speaking to reporters from her office in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said authorities were still assessing the full extent of the damage in the area, which was devastated by a deadly quake a decade ago.

"We have already been informed that people have been injured. Power outages and fires have occurred in some areas, and there has also been damage to roads and bridges and the collapse of buildings," Takaichi said.

"I ask everyone to take action to protect themselves, including evacuating to a safe location."

Around 300,000 people have been instructed to go to evacuation centres, and hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to help with rescue operations as aftershocks continued to rumble in the area, on Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu.

Around 20 to 30 workers at the prefecture's largest shopping mall were unaccounted for after it was rocked by an explosion in the aftermath of the quake, NHK said.

Fire services earlier said multiple people were trapped inside.

Local news outlets quoted police saying several had died or were presumed to have perished in the incident, although Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports.

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. Several ambulances and fire engines were parked outside, as rescue teams searched for survivors.

A spokesperson for mall operator Aeon 8267.T said customers and employees were evacuated right after the initial quake and that the exact cause of the ensuing explosion was unclear. Authorities are investigating a possible gas explosion, broadcaster NTV reported.

Kazuya Tsurunaga told TBS he was stunned by the blast while cleaning up dishes broken by the earthquake inside a pub about 300 metres from the Aeon mall.

"It was a huge impact," he said. "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."

Multiple people were also unaccounted for after a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries 3836.T factory, broadcaster NHK reported, while two hospitals were each reported to be treating more than 50 people, some in serious condition.