Dozens feared trapped in quake-hit Japan shopping mall

TOKYO — 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 of the building had collapsed in the magnitude 7.1 tremor.

Public broadcaster NHK cited police sources as saying that between 20 and 30 mall employees could not be contacted, showing footage of emergency vehicles with flashing red lights outside the building.

Police told Agence France-Presse 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 paper 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.

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 on the verge of toppling 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 4:27 pm was of 7.1 magnitude, the Japan Meteorological Agency 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.

Roads closed

Many roads were closed and high-speed Shinkansen train services were suspended in the region affected by Tuesday's earthquake. 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 reported.

"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."

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, adding there were also "water and power outages".

The Japanese military has mobilized 3,600 personnel for disaster relief operations and sent 20 aircraft to assess the damage from the air, the defense minister said.

The meteorological agency initially issued a tsunami alert, but withdrew it at around 6:10 pm.

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 2,800.

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".

AGENCIES-XINHUA