TOKYO: At least 50 people were taken to hospital with injuries on Tuesday after a major quake in southwestern Japan, broadcaster NHK said.
It also reported 12 houses had collapsed, with four cases in which people had been trapped inside.
“Many people” were trapped inside a shopping mall damaged in a major earthquake Tuesday in southwestern Japan, emergency services said.
In “Kashima town, a shopping complex’s second floor collapsed, leaving many people trapped inside,” the fire department said in a statement.
Police said earlier they had received reports of what sounded like an explosion at the Aeon Mall outlet in the Kumamoto region, with no information on damage or any casualties.
A tsunami warning for a wave measuring 1 meter was issued after the earthquake, the JMA 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.
