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Japan earthquake: ‘Many people’ trapped in mall, workers unaccounted for in factory
Dozens of people were feared trapped in a shopping mall in Japan on Tuesday after a major earthquake toppled buildings, sparked fires and reportedly killed one person and injured more than 100.
Private broadcaster TBS reported that a “considerable number” of people were feared dead inside the mall in the town of Kashima after the fire brigade said that the second floor collapsed in the 7.1-magnitude tremor.
Emergency services earlier said “many people” were trapped inside the building.
Public broadcaster NHK cited police sources as saying that between 20 and 30 employees could not be contacted, showing footage of emergency vehicles with flashing red lights outside.
Police told AFP they could not confirm any fatalities inside the building. Kyodo News reported that four people had been taken to hospital, all of them conscious.
Multiple people were also believed to be unaccounted for at a factory in Yatsushiro city where the tip of a chimney fell down, NHK reported, citing sources.
One person was killed when a house collapsed during the quake, Kyodo reported.
Yuki Tsuru / The Yomiuri Shimbun via AFP
NHK aired footage from elsewhere in the southwestern Kumamoto region on Kyushu island showing several blazes, damaged bridges, a derailed cargo train and a number of houses threatening to topple over.
Chiharu Hara, a 35-year-old recruitment agent who was in Kumamoto, told AFP that she was “terrified” when the quake struck.
“The office swayed violently side-to-side. I was afraid it would collapse. Everyone panicked,” Hara said.
The tremor at 4.27pm local time had a magnitude of 7.1, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said, but reached the highest level of seven on Japan’s Shindo scale.
The US Geological Survey put the magnitude at 6.8.
A succession of aftershocks followed, including one with a magnitude of 6.1 at 5:08 pm.
Hundreds of earthquakes strike Japan every year, but the vast majority cause little damage.
Power outages, fires
Many roads were closed and high-speed shinkansen train services were suspended in the region affected by Tuesday’s quake. Kumamoto airport was closed for several hours before re-opening in the evening.
Two hospitals reported taking in at least 50 injured patients each, NHK said.
“People are coming in with burns and fractures from being trapped under objects due to the earthquake, and ambulances are constantly bringing in injured people,” NHK quoted one hospital employee as saying.
“Inside the hospital, there are water leaks and electrical system failures.”
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
The broadcaster also said that around 10 people were hurt at a nursing home for the elderly.
“Human casualties, building collapses, road damage, fires… have been confirmed so far,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on X, adding there were also “water and power outages”.
The Japanese military has mobilised 3,600 personnel for disaster relief operations and sent 20 aircraft to assess the damage from the air, the defence minister said.
The JMA initially issued a tsunami alert, but withdrew it at around 6.10pm.
Unverified footage shared on social media showed parts of a wall at the centuries-old Kumamoto Castle collapsing.
No immediate abnormalities were recorded at nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
About 45,000 households and facilities had no power in the Kumamoto region, according to local utility Kyushu Electric Power.
The firm said three nuclear reactors operating in the region at the time were functioning normally.
‘Ring of fire’
A local NHK staffer wearing a helmet reported live on air that the shaking was continuing around half an hour after the quake, with the newsroom rocking so violently that it was difficult to remain standing.
“Including myself, there may be some people who feel their hearts racing,” the staffer said.
Kumamoto was hit by two devastating earthquakes in 2016 – one of magnitude 6.5, followed two days later by one of magnitude 7.3 – which killed 273 people and injured more than 2800.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences hundreds of jolts every year and accounts for about 18 percent of the world’s earthquakes.
The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below the Earth’s surface at which they strike.
Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.
– AFP
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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