Il Nuovo Postiglione - Many feared trapped in quake-hit Japan mall

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 on Tuesday afternoon.

As night fell, regional officials said they believed 10 people were unaccounted for in the mall, public broadcaster NHK reported. It earlier cited police as saying between 20 and 30 of the mall's employees could not be contacted.

Police told AFP earlier that they could not confirm any fatalities inside the badly damaged building. Kyodo News reported that four people had been taken to hospital, all of them conscious.

Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae late Tuesday pledged that emergency responders would work "tirelessly" through the night "starting with the rescue and lifesaving of those affected."

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.

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.

The tremor at 4:27 pm (0727 GMT) 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 -

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.

Footage verified by AFP showed heavy vehicles, street lights and traffic lights swaying vigorously for about twenty seconds.

Elsewhere, vehicles on a two-lane road in the province carefully navigated sections of buckled pavement.

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."

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," 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.

Verified 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 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".

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.

tmo-hih-nf-stu/ksb/pnb

F.Ciambrone--INP