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One person died and more than a hundred were injured after a strong 7.1 magnitude earthquake in southwestern Japan, which caused the collapse of several buildings, including a shopping center where it is feared that "many people" are trapped.
According to the private television network TBS, a "considerable number" of people lost their lives due to the collapse of the second floor of the shopping center in Kashima, in Kumamoto prefecture.
Emergency services had indicated that "many people" were trapped inside, but local police told AFP that, for the moment, they could not confirm if there were victims.
The public broadcaster NHK reported, citing police sources, that between 20 and 30 shopping center employees remained unaccounted for, while the Kyodo News agency stated that four people were taken to the hospital, all conscious.
Likewise, NHK indicated that several people could be missing at a factory in the city of Yatsushiro, where the top part of a chimney collapsed.
Kyodo News also reported that one person died after a house collapsed.
The tremor, which occurred at 4:27 PM (07:27 GMT) on the island of Kyushu, reached the maximum level (7) on the Shindo seismic intensity scale, a benchmark in Japan that measures the force at which earthquakes are felt, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) specified.
A tsunami warning issued after the quake was lifted shortly after.
Television footage showed partially destroyed road bridges, wrecked buildings, and overturned freight train cars.
- "Aterrorizada" -
"The shaking was quite strong and lasted a long time. I was terrified," Chiharu Hara, a 35-year-old recruiter who was on a business trip in Kumamoto prefecture, told AFP.
In her client's offices, "nothing fell from the ceiling, but the building swayed violently. I feared it would collapse. Everyone panicked," she explained.
"When the earthquake happened, the tremors were so strong that I couldn't stand," an NHK network employee in Kumamoto prefecture declared on television.
According to NHK, two hospitals indicated that they had treated at least 50 injured patients each.
"People are arriving with burns and fractures from having been trapped under rubble due to the earthquake, and ambulances won't stop bringing in the injured," a hospital employee stated, according to NHK.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi wrote on X that for the moment, "human casualties, building collapses, road damage, and fires" had been confirmed, in addition to "water and power outages."
About 45,000 homes and facilities are without electricity in Kumamoto prefecture, according to the operator Kyushu Electric Power, which specified that the region's three nuclear reactors were still functioning normally.
- Cientos de sismos -
Kumamoto was hit in 2016 by two devastating earthquakes: one of 6.5 magnitude, followed two days later by another of 7.3 magnitude. They caused 273 deaths and more than 2,800 injuries.
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world due to its location at the junction of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire."
The archipelago, which has approximately 125 million inhabitants, registers hundreds of tremors each year and accounts for approximately 18% of the earthquakes recorded worldwide.
The vast majority of them are of low intensity, but the damage they cause varies depending on their location and the depth at which they occur beneath the Earth's surface.
The country remains marked by the memory of the gigantic 9.0 magnitude underwater earthquake that occurred in 2011, which triggered a devastating tsunami with around 18,500 deaths or missing persons and a catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
On April 20, a 7.7 magnitude tremor shook the north of the country, leaving at least ten injured after shaking even large buildings in Tokyo.
Authorities then issued a special warning regarding a high risk of earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or higher. This warning was lifted a week later.
[Publicidad]