Death toll from Japan earthquake rises to 18 as teams race to find missing people at shopping mall and paper factory

Kumamoto, Japan – Soldiers and emergency workers broke into a badly damaged shopping center and searched houses in search of trapped survivors on Wednesday. strong earthquakes which killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck the Kumamoto region on the southern main island of Kyushu a day ago, leaving at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the regional government said. The numbers have been steadily increasing, with fears that they may continue to rise. The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 6.8 magnitude.

The sweltering weather increased concerns for the survivors as rescuers turned up the heat. It was unclear how many people may still be missing.

Another major damage was the Aeon Mall in the city of Kashima, which was crowded with thousands of people when the earthquake struck.

The company said 3,000 customers were evacuated to the car park before the gas explosion in another part of the mall, where some people were still working.

The second floor of the mall collapsed, trapping people. Eyewitnesses said the explosion shook the area like an earthquake.

Aeon Mall president Akio Yoshida told reporters at the site on Wednesday that three people were still missing – all media workers who were working at the time of the explosion. He said it was confirmed that three people died in the incident.

“We take it very seriously that an explosion occurred and precious lives were lost,” Yoshida said, bowing along with two other officials.

CBS News reporter Anna Coren was at the scene Wednesday as efforts continued to find people still trapped inside the building. He spoke to a man who helped evacuate 200 shoppers, but he believed his 23-year-old friend was working at the mall when the suspected gas exploded an hour later.

“I’m worried,” he told CBS News. “He’s a good friend from a long time ago, and I just want him to be safe.”

A girl at the scene told Coren that when Kumamoto experienced the last major earthquake, 10 years ago, she was in an area devastated by this typhoon, “but what happened yesterday was so strong, I felt like death was near.”

Japanese media released video of the mall showing part of the ceiling collapsed, metal parts and other debris strewn everywhere as masked and hooded rescuers searched the area.

In nearby Yatsushino, a chimney collapse at a Nippon Paper Industries factory killed five people and seven others were rescued from the rubble, according to the Kumamoto government disaster team.

Four people are believed to be trapped there, the statement said.

About 34,900 homes do not have electricity and 15,000 homes do not have water, Kumamoto officials said. More than 8,800 people left their homes to live in more than 400 shelters, where power sources were added so evacuation centers could have air conditioning.

Aerial police images showed that some houses in the residential areas were completely flattened, including several that had fallen into the nearby river.

Japan’s Self Defense Forces join rescue workers in search and rescue operations. Hundreds of professionals were assisting in the effort, including firefighters from Taiwan.

“There are people still waiting to be rescued, and it’s a race against time,” said Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. “We will all go out and search and rescue as many people as possible.”

Takaichi said the federal government is preparing to deliver food and other necessities to the hard-hit areas. He also expressed his condolences to the dead and sympathized with their relatives, and urged those affected by the earthquake to take care of themselves under the hot weather.

Bullet train services remain suspended. Although operations at Aso Kumamoto Airport resumed on Wednesday, some airlines canceled flights as a precaution.

Kumamoto was hit by an earthquake that killed at least 50 people in 2016. Japan is one of the most earthquake prone countries in the world.