Strong quake hits Kyushu region, collapsing walls, houses

[Ceewan]

TOKYO —

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck Kyushu on Thursday evening, collapsing walls and a number of houses. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake hit at 9:26 p.m. and was centered in Mashiki town in the Kumamoto Prefecture where it registered the highest level of 7 on the Japanese seismic scale. The quake’s depth was 10 kilometers in Kumamoto Prefecture.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that damage was being assessed. A number of houses have collapsed, but there was no abnormality at the nearby Sendai nuclear power plant, Suga said. Shinkansen services were suspended for a short time.

Footage on NHK showed a signboard hanging from the ceiling at its local bureau violently shaking. File cabinets rattled, books, files and papers rained down to the floor, and one employee appeared to have fallen off a chair, while others slid underneath their desks to protect their heads.

“There was a boom and the whole house violently shook sideways,” Takahiko Morita, a resident in Mashiki, a town at the epicenter, told a telephone interview with NHK TV. “Furniture and bookshelves fell down, books were all over the floor.”

Morita said there is no power outage in his neighborhood but water supply was cut off. Some houses and walls collapsed, he said.

Keisukei Urata, an official at nearby Uki city, said he was driving home when the quake struck at 9:26 p.m.

He also said he saw some walls around houses collapsing.

Parts of the ceiling at Uki City Hall also collapsed, windows were broken and cabinets fell to the ground, he said.

Kasumi Nakamura, an official in the village of Nishihara near the epicenter, said that the rattling started modestly and grew violent, lasting about 30 seconds.

“Papers, files, flower vases and everything fell on the floor,” he told NHK.

Several aftershocks continued. One aftershock measuring 5.7 struck about 40 minutes later, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

source:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/strong-quake-hits-kyushu-region-no-tsunami-danger

 

[Ceewan]

Update:

​

The quake at 9:26 p.m. registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic scale in the town of Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. No tsunami warning was issued and no abnormalities have been detected at nuclear power plants in the area.

Local authorities said two people have died while others had lost consciousness or showed no vital signs.

As of 2 a.m., a total of some 23,000 people were taking shelter at about 350 sites in the prefecture. Eight people were reported to be missing.

​

According to police and firefighters, around 20 houses collapsed in and around Mashiki, trapping people in buildings and under the debris. Fires had also broken out there. An eight-month-old baby girl was rescued without injuries from a collapsed house early Friday morning.

About 400 people were being treated for injuries at five hospitals in Kumamoto City, hospital officials said. And one person was reported injured in each of the neighboring prefectures of Saga and Miyazaki, police there said.

The quake, upgraded by the meteorological agency from a preliminary magnitude of 6.4, originated at a depth of around 11 kilometers in Kumamoto Prefecture.

A number of similarly shallow aftershocks followed, including one of a preliminary magnitude 6.4 -- and upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale -- that hit the area shortly after midnight. Another measuring magnitude 5.7 occurred shortly after 10 p.m.

An official from the weather agency warned that there may be aftershocks of around lower 6 on the Japanese scale in the coming week.

No abnormalities have been found at the Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima Prefecture or the Genkai nuclear power plant in nearby Saga Prefecture, according to operator Kyushu Electric Power Co. and the Nuclear Regulation Authority.

Bullet train operations on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line were temporarily suspended within Kyushu following the quake.

According to Kyushu Railway Co., passengers were stranded aboard one bullet train that had made an emergency stop between stations, and evacuation of the passengers was being delayed by the aftershocks.

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways said runways at several Kyushu airports were being inspected for damage, with no effect on flights.

Traffic had stopped on some expressways in Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures, including parts of the Kyushu Expressway, according to Kumamoto prefectural police.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on authorities to spare no effort in evaluating and responding to damage from the quake and in keeping the public informed.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said at a press conference that Self-Defense Forces airplanes and helicopters have been dispatched to the quake-hit area to ascertain the extent of damage.

The weather agency said the quake is the first recorded at level 7 on the Japanese seismic scale since the earthquake and tsunami disaster in northeast Japan on March 11, 2011.

source:
http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160415/p2g/00m/0fp/001000c

 

[Gir633]

Now they are saying 9 dead and 761 injured.

 

[Ceewan]

Update:

9 dead, 860 injured in Kyushu quake; 123 aftershocks recorded

Nine people have been killed and 860 others injured after a powerful earthquake jolted southwestern Japan on Thursday night, local police said Friday........

“We will do our best in ensuring the safety of residents,” Abe told a House of Representatives session.

“In collaboration with local authorities, we will take every possible measure to support sufferers such as securing food, blankets and other necessary materials, providing medical services, as well as restoring infrastructure such as electricity and water supply,” he said.

The Meteorological Agency said there had been 123 aftershocks by 10 a.m. Friday and warned that more aftershocks, including those measuring upper 6 on the Japanese seismic scale, were expected to follow.....


Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said a government team led by Fumiaki Matsumoto, senior vice minister of the Cabinet Office, arrived in Kumamoto on Friday morning to beef up support to the quake-hit areas.

According to the Kumamoto prefectural police, the nine dead are three men and four women aged between 54-94 in Mashiki, and a 29-year-old man and 68-year-old woman in the Higashi Ward of Kumamoto City. Eight of them were trapped in collapsed houses and the remaining one died after falling down at home.

As of 5 a.m., at least 860 people were injured, 53 seriously. Up to 44,400 people were taking shelter at about 500 sites in the prefecture, the prefectural government said........


Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Suga, the top government spokesman, said 14,500 households were affected by a power cut, some 4,600 by a disruption to gas supply, and roughly 25,000 by suspension of water supply.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Motoo Hayashi said separately that companies such as Honda Motor Co, Mitsubishi Electric Corp and Bridgestone Corp have suspended operations at their plants in the quake-hit areas, but that there have been no reports of serious damage to their supply chain as seen when the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disrupted parts supplies in the manufacturing industry........

According to Kyushu Railway Co, passengers were stranded aboard one bullet train that had made an emergency stop between stations, and evacuation of the passengers was being delayed by the aftershocks.......

Traffic had stopped on some expressways in Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures, including parts of the Kyushu Expressway, according to Kumamoto prefectural police.

 

[Ceewan]

Updates:

​

A famous landmark and cultural asset, the Kumamoto Castle was also damaged........

The quake struck the region where Japan's only online nuclear plant is located.
Officials say there are no irregularities with the 2 reactors at the Sendai plant and they remain in operation....

Many people in Mashiki have gathered at the municipal office to get daily necessities.

Self-Defense Force members are preparing food and supplying water and blankets.

Some people had to spend the whole night outside because of the danger of houses and shelters collapsing.

The quake happened in the Futagawa-Hinagu fault zone.
Experts believe the fault lines slipped sideways, causing the strong tremor at Mashiki town.

​

A baby and mother are reunited after the infant was rescued from a house that collapsed following a powerful earthquake, in Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, at 3:46 a.m. on April 15, 2016.

​

Rescue workers carry a baby rescued from a collapsed house in Mashiki, Kumamoto Prefecture, at 3:44 a.m. on April 15, 2016.

​

Evacuees gather in front of the Mashiki town office following a powerful earthquake on April 14, 2016.

​

People sleep in the open under blankets following a powerful earthquake, in Kumamoto's Chuo Ward, on April 15, 2016.

​

An aerial view shows damaged houses in the town of Mashiki in Kumamoto prefecture, on April 15, 2016.

​

An aerial view shows residents forming a queue to receive meals from defense forces soldiers at the Mashiki town hall in Kumamoto prefecture.

​

An aerial view shows a derailed Kyushu shinkansen, or bullet train, in the city of Kumamoto.

 

[WillEater]

M7.0 - KYUSHU, JAPAN
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 7.0
Date-Time

• 15 Apr 2016 16:25:06 UTC
• 16 Apr 2016 01:25:06 near epicenter
• 15 Apr 2016 08:25:06 standard time in your timezone

Location 32.782N 130.726E
Depth 10 km
Distances

• 1 km (0 mi) WSW of Kumamoto-shi, Japan
• 12 km (7 mi) NNE of Uto, Japan
• 13 km (8 mi) SSE of Ueki, Japan
• 15 km (9 mi) NNE of Matsubase, Japan
• 631 km (391 mi) SSE of Seoul, South Korea

Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 4.8 km; Vertical 1.9 km
Parameters Nph = 85; Dmin = 40.5 km; Rmss = 1.12 seconds; Gp = 39°
Version =
Event ID us 20005iis

 

[supersam]

I visited Kumamoto in 2014, thoughts and prayers with everyone, hoping for no more casualties.

 

[Ceewan]

Scores feared trapped as death toll from 2 Kyushu quakes hits 37


KUMAMOTO —

Scores of people were feared buried alive Saturday after two powerful quakes hit Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu a day apart, killing at least 37 people, and as a forecast storm threatened more devastating landslides.

The magnitude-7.3 temblor, which struck at 1:25 a.m. Saturday, registered upper 6 on Japan’s seismic scale in Kumamoto Prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The quake, upgraded by the meteorological agency from a preliminary magnitude of 7.1, originated at a depth of about 12 kilometers.

Homes, roads and railway lines were swept away when huge hillsides collapsed, as thousands of tonnes of mud was dislodged by the thunderous seismic tremors.

Buildings were reduced to rubble, including a university dormitory and apartment complexes, with dozens of people unaccounted for over a wide area.

“We are aware of multiple locations where people have been buried alive,” chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference. “Police, firefighters and Self Defense Force personnel are doing all they can to rescue them.”

Around 70,000 people have been evacuated, including 300 from an area close to a dam thought to be at risk of collapse.

A hospital was left teetering by Saturday morning’s quake, with doctors and patients rushed from the building in darkness.

Isolated villages in the mountainous area of Kumamoto were completely cut off by landslides and damage to roads, with at least 1,000 people believed trapped in one area alone.

Aerial footage showed a bridge on a main trunk road had crashed onto the carriageway below it, its pillars felled.

The quake came as emergency responders were working to reach areas already affected by a 6.2 magnitude tremor that struck late Thursday.

Adding to worries was the eruption of a nearby volcano, although seismologists cautioned there was no evidence of a link and said activity was limited.

Aftershocks continued to rock Kumamoto and its surroundings, an area unaccustomed to the powerful quakes that regularly shake other parts of seismically-prone Japan.

Thursday’s initial quake affected older buildings and killed nine people, but Saturday’s brought newer structures crashing down, including a municipal office in the city of Uto.

“The total number of deaths rose to 32,” Yumika Kami, a spokeswoman at the Kumamoto prefectural government, told AFP.

Nearly 1,000 people have been hurt, 184 of them seriously, she added.

Tokai University announced that two of its students, who were among around a dozen trapped in a dormitory building in Minami-Aso, were now known to have died.

“We offer our sincerest prayers for the two,” said a statement on its website. “We’re trying to confirm the safety of other students.”

At least one of those who died was killed when a fire ripped through an apartment complex in the town of Yatsushiro, a local official said.

In nearby Kumamoto city, an AFP journalist said he was jolted awake by powerful shaking, which sent the television set in his hotel room crashing to the floor. Staff urged guests to evacuate.

Kumamoto airport was forced to close after a ceiling collapsed, Jiji Press reported, with no immediate plans to resume flights, and communications in the area were spotty.

Nearly 400,000 households were without a water supply, and electricity was cut off in 170,000, the government earlier said.

Japan Meteorological Agency official Gen Aoki said Saturday’s quake was the strongest to hit in recent days, and that Thursday’s was merely a “precursor”.

The agency said rain was expected to hit Kumamoto from Saturday evening, and some areas would see heavy downpours on Sunday, raising the risk of further landslides in places where soil and rock has already been loosened.

The town of Misato advised more than 10,000 people to evacuate Saturday over fears of a landslide, national broadcaster NHK reported.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced he was sending 20,000 emergency responders to the area, including troops, firefighters and medics.

“From tonight, we are expecting rain and winds and deteriorating weather in the Kyushu region,” he told a press conference. “There are fears of possible landslides and other secondary disasters. The time is now. What we can do during daylight will be key.”

source:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/...e-hits-kumamoto-area-19-dead-over-760-injured

 

[Ceewan]

Seismic activity poses increasing risk

An official with the Meteorological Agency says seismic activity is increasing in Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures on Japan's southwestern Kyushu island after a major earthquake struck the region before dawn on Saturday.

The agency held a news conference to discuss the situation in Kumamoto and surrounding prefectures.

Gen Aoki, the head of the agency's earthquake and tsunami monitoring section, said the buildup in seismic activity means there's an increased risk that buildings will collapse and mudslides will occur. He called on residents to stay safe.

Since the magnitude-7.3 quake rattled the Kumamoto region at 1:25 AM, there have been several tremors in the Aso region of Kumamoto Prefecture as well as neighboring Oita Prefecture.

Aoki said there's a chance these earthquakes are connected to the original jolt. But he said at this stage, the agency considers them to be unrelated.

Scale of quake damage growing

The major earthquakes continuing to jolt areas in Japan's southwestern region have so far left a total of 41 people dead.


Prefectural officials say 90 houses were completely destroyed, and nearly 800 houses were half or partially destroyed in Aso City and elsewhere. More damage is likely, as some municipalities are still unable to confirm their local situation.

Officials at Kumamoto Airport shut the terminal building after it was damaged by the tremors. They have cancelled all Saturday's flights.

Officials at the transport ministry and the prefectural government say expressways and major roads were closed in nearly 90 locations, as they sustained cracks or crumbled.

Damage to facilities at Kumamoto Port has forced ferry operators to cancel services, as pillars of a movable bridge have been damaged. The quakes have also caused ground liquefaction and cracked piers at other ports.

 

[WillEater]

 

[WillEater]

 

[WillEater]

 

[Ceewan]

 

[WillEater]

M7.4 - NEAR THE COAST OF ECUADOR
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 7.4
Date-Time

• 16 Apr 2016 23:58:37 UTC
• 16 Apr 2016 18:58:37 near epicenter
• 16 Apr 2016 15:58:37 standard time in your timezone

Location 0.348N 79.972W
Depth 20 km
Distances

• 28 km (17 mi) SSE of Muisne, Ecuador
• 56 km (34 mi) W of Rosa Zarate, Ecuador
• 72 km (44 mi) SSW of Propicia, Ecuador
• 112 km (69 mi) NW of Santo Domingo de los Colorados, Ecuador
• 173 km (107 mi) WNW of Quito, Ecuador

Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 6.5 km; Vertical 5.0 km
Parameters Nph = 122; Dmin = 237.5 km; Rmss = 1.10 seconds; Gp = 73°
Version =
Event ID us 20005j32

 

[Ceewan]

I didn't realize what one quake had to do with the other but apparently they do. Both Japan and Ecuador and Japan are in what is called "The Ring of Fire". Exactly how one quake effects another is beyond me though.

Back to Japan:
U.S. military to help rescue quake victims as landslide threat grows

MASHIKI —

The U.S. military was set to join Japanese rescuers Sunday racing against the threat of more landslides to reach people still trapped by two big earthquakes.At least 41 people are known to have died in the double disaster, with up to eight still missing—feared buried in shattered houses or under torrents of mud.

Rain hit the area around Kumamoto overnight, where officials have warned quake-loosened hillsides could be at risk of collapse as aftershocks continued to roil the ground.

The weather brought further misery to those who survived Thursday’s initial quake and the bigger, more powerful tremor that hit early Saturday.

Tens of thousands of people spent the night in temporary accommodation, or huddled in makeshift shelters.

In the badly-affected town of Mashiki, few of the traditional style wooden houses remained intact, and their occupants described the hardships of surviving amid the destruction.

“I sleep in a car and stay in this tent during the day,” Seiya Takamori, 52, told AFP, gesturing to a shelter made from a blue plastic sheet.

“In this area, we all knew there was an active fault running underneath the town of Mashiki, but no one really cared about it.

“We always said to each other that a big quake would hit at some point, but didn’t really take it seriously.”

Neighbor Masanori Masuda, 59, said many houses were in reasonable shape after the first tremor, but had suffered badly when the second quake struck, leaving occupants without basic necessities.

“I need batteries to charge my mobile phone. Also, I need a toilet. I am afraid of going into the battered house, but I cannot help it. I take a bucket of water with me and have to use the toilet in the house,” he said.

The two quakes triggered enormous landslides that swept away homes, roads and railway lines, and caused even modern buildings to crumble.

More than 90,000 people have been evacuated, including 300 from an area near a dam thought to be at risk of collapse.

Isolated villages in mountainous areas were completely cut off by landslides and damage to roads. At least 500 people were believed trapped in one settlement, accessible only by helicopter.

Aerial footage showed a bridge on a main trunk road had crashed onto the carriageway below, its pillars felled by the huge seismic jolt.

The government had said Saturday that there were “multiple locations where people have been buried alive”, and reports suggested scores were missing, but the number was sharply down by Sunday morning.

Around 25,000 troops, firefighters, medics and other rescue personnel were to be joined by members of the United States military, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.

“Our defense minister informed me that the U.S. military said aerial transportation is available. We are grateful for the offer,” he said.

The U.S. has almost 50,000 servicemen and women stationed in Japan.

Around 400 aftershocks have rocked Kumamoto and other parts of central Kyushu, an area unaccustomed to the powerful quakes that regularly rattle other parts of Japan.
.

 

[Ceewan]

Heavy rainfall forecast for quake-hit Kyushu areas

Heavy rainfall is forecast for Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu, which has been hit by earthquakes over the past several days. Weather officials are warning of possible mudslides in the region.

Meteorological Agency officials say rain has been intensifying in Kyushu since Saturday night, as a developing low pressure system moves eastward accompanied by a front.

Minami Aso Village, one of the quake-stricken areas, received 13.5 millimeters of rain in one hour to 4 AM on Sunday.

A thunderstorm forecast for Sunday morning could bring 40 millimeters per hour of rain to quake-affected areas in Kumamoto and Oita prefectures.

Agency officials are calling on people in those areas to be on the alert for possible mudslides as quakes have already loosened the ground.

 

[WillEater]

Ring of fire started shaking last year: http://allnewspipeline.com/Ring_Of_Fire.php

 

[Ceewan]

Rescuers race to find missing

Rescue crews in southwestern Japan are racing against the clock to find people missing after two powerful earthquakes. They are up against a critical 72-hour mark, since the most recent. They have been combing through mud and rubble and bracing against more tremors.

Thousands of rescuers are in the village of Minamiaso on the island of Kyushu. Nine people remain unaccounted for and 2 of them may be trapped under a collapsed building.

Authorities say 44 people have been confirmed dead since Thursday. Many were found in collapsed houses.
More than 1,000 others were injured. Thousands of houses and buildings are damaged or destroyed. But officials believe all those numbers could rise.

They have not been able to assess the situation in some areas.

Survivors are taking refuge at city offices, schools, and parking lots. Over 100,000 people have become temporarily homeless. The overcrowded facilities take a toll on the elderly.

A woman in her '70s was found collapsed Sunday in a makeshift restroom. She was later confirmed dead. Officials say fatigue and stress may have been causes.

Thousands of people have been sleeping in the cars over fears of more buildings collapsing.

Many homes are without power, water or gas. People lined up for emergency meals and drinking water.

Officials say they have confirmed more than 50 landslides in the area. There has been more than 500 tremors since Thursday, with more still possible.

 

[WillEater]

M6.0 - NEAR THE COAST OF ECUADOR
Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 6.0
Date-Time

• 20 Apr 2016 08:35:11 UTC
• 20 Apr 2016 03:35:11 near epicenter
• 20 Apr 2016 00:35:11 standard time in your timezone

Location 0.710N 80.009W
Depth 10 km
Distances

• 12 km (7 mi) NNE of Muisne, Ecuador
• 43 km (26 mi) SW of Propicia, Ecuador
• 73 km (45 mi) NW of Rosa Zarate, Ecuador
• 128 km (79 mi) WSW of Valdez, Ecuador
• 195 km (120 mi) WNW of Quito, Ecuador

Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 6.6 km; Vertical 1.8 km
Parameters Nph = 70; Dmin = 183.9 km; Rmss = 1.50 seconds; Gp = 78°
Version =
Event ID us 20005kb6

 

[Ceewan]

yeah, Ecuador has it pretty bad right now. They are just not as prepared for something like this, not that anybody could be. In Japan they have had over 500 aftershocks...which has to be some kind of record. The death toll is a helluva lot less than in Ecuador though.