Il Nuovo Postiglione - Two dead in shopping mall hit by Japan quake

Three other people were in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest, public broadcaster NHK reported -- one at the mall and two others at a factory in Yatsushiro city where a smokestack collapsed.

Nine others people were unaccounted for at the factory site, it said.

The mall blast was likely caused by a gas leak, a government source told the Kyodo news agency. Ceilings and walls collapsed, leaving the structure's steel frame exposed.

Many people had evacuated the facility due to the earthquake and prior to the blast, reported 30 minutes later, Kyodo said, citing a spokesperson for the mall operator.

The powerful tremor at 4:27 pm (0727 GMT) Tuesday afternoon -- measured at 7.1 magnitude by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) -- toppled buildings, sparked fires and reportedly killed one other person in a house collapse.

The US Geological Survey put the quake's magnitude at 6.8.

A succession of aftershocks followed, including one with a magnitude of 6.1 at 5:08 pm.

Emergency responders searched overnight for people feared trapped in the mall, located just outside Kumamoto city, and at the damaged factory in Yatsushiro city, both on Kyushu island in southwestern Japan.

After nightfall, regional officials said 10 people were unaccounted for at the mall, NHK reported.

It had 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.

- 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. Elsewhere, vehicles on a two-lane road in the province were seen carefully navigating 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, it 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," Prime Minister Sanae 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.

A.Mariconda--INP