Two strong quakes kill 41 in southwestern Japan, heavy rain predicted in quake-hit region

A total of 41 people have been killed in two strong earthquakes in Japan.

At least 32 people were confirmed dead after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan's southwestern Kumamoto Prefecture in the early hours of Saturday.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency said that the massive quake on Saturday was the main event while the 6.5-magnitude quake earlier that killed at least 9 people was a foreshock.

The agency also warned that severe aftershocks might still follow, and as heavy wind and rain was predicted in the Kyushu area from Saturday night, residents should be wary of landslides and other secondary disasters.

The prefectural governments of Kumamoto and Oita have required 160,000 residents in the danger zones to evacuate.

The 7.3 magnitude quake that struck Kumamoto at the depth of about 12 kilometers early on Saturday triggered a tsunami warning which was later lifted.

Numerous aftershocks followed the massive quake. As of 5:00 p.m. local time on Saturday, more than 30 shocks over magnitude 4 have been reported, causing extensive damages to the stricken region.

Local media also reported a "small-scale" eruption at Mount Aso, a large active volcano in Kumamoto. The Japanese Meteorological Agency said later that the volcano was still active on Saturday afternoon but the eruption was not linked to the quakes.

Over 2,000 people were reported injured in the quakes. In Kumamoto Prefecture, some 91,000 people were evacuated to over 680 shelters, and over 1,700 houses damaged, including 1,400 in the village of Nishihara.

In the hardest-stricken Minamiaso village, landslides buried 14 buildings, leaving two dead and four missing. A total of 11 college students were trapped in the rubble of four collapsed buildings and two of them were killed.

Water supply has been cut off in the Kumamoto city and part of the Oita prefecture, affecting 420,000 families. Blackout still affects 81,000 families in Kumamoto prefecture according to the Kyushu Electric Power Company.

Traffic was halted on multiple expressways in the region and parts of local roads were damaged. All commercial flights from Kumamoto Airport on Saturday have been cancelled with no prospect of resuming operation on Sunday. The Shinkansen Line service in Kyushu region was also halted through Saturday.

No abnormalities were observed at the Sendai nuclear power plant, the only operating nuclear facility in the area, and the nuclear power plant would not stop operation, said local reports. The Japanese government said it had dispatched 15,000 Self-Defense Force members to the shattered region and would send 10,000 more on Sunday to accelerate rescue and other operations.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference that significant damage is feared from the fresh quakes and vowed the central government would spare no efforts in response.

China's Consulate General in Fukuoka said on Saturday that all of the 20 Chinese tourists trapped in the stricken area had been rescued.

Source: XINHUA