Over 8 dead in Japan quake, nuke reactors safe

Tokyo

Rescuers were scrambling to find survivors on Friday, after  the powerful earthquake left at least nine people dead and hundreds injured, sparking fires and buckling roads. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes after the  quake left lumps of broken concrete strewn in the streets. Houses collapsed, factories stopped work and a high-speed train was de-railed, while the roof of the treasured Kumamoto castle in the southern city of the same name was also damaged.

Nuclear plants in the region were unaffected, but several major manufacturers including Honda, Bridgestone, and Sony said they had suspended operations at factories in the area.

Dozens of aftershocks followed the quake and officials warned the death toll could rise as rescuers scoured the  collapsed structures. As rescue workers toiled through the night, an eight-month-old baby girl was pulled from the rubble alive and unharmed, NHK reported. “As far as we can tell from infrared images from a police helicopter, there appears to be a significant number of houses destroyed or half-collapsed,” said disaster minister Taro Kono.

Rescuers were concentrating their searches in Mashiki, near the epicentre of the quake where the most deaths have been recorded. On the streets, the remains of collapsed Japanese-style houses - many of then aged, wooden structures - could be seen, and damaged roof tiles lay in piles. But no new deaths have been announced for more than eight hours, suggesting that many among the thousands forced to flee their collapsed or unstable homes may have escaped alive. By Friday morning, the government said it had confirmed at least 860 people had been injured, at least 53 seriously. An official from the local Kumamoto disaster agency said at least nine were dead.

Gen Aoki, a Japan Meteorological Agency seismologist, warned rain in coming days could make the situation worse. About 57,000 households in Kumamoto prefecture have been left without water, according to local government figures. Some 1,600 military personnel were joined by nearly 2,000 police officers and more than 1,300 firefighters to help in the search and rescue efforts.

Japan, one of the most seismically active countries in the world, suffered a massive undersea quake on March 11, 2011 that sent a tsunami barrelling into the northeast coast. Some 18,500 people were left dead or missing, and several nuclear reactors went into meltdown at the Fukushima plant in the worst atomic accident in a generation.