JAPAN EARTHQUAKE: RECUERS IN 'RACE AGAINST TIME' AS STORM HITS
time' as storm hits
- 16 April 2016
- From the section Asia
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Media captionAerial footage shows earthquake damage, including a huge landslide in Kumamoto Prefecture
Rescuers are in a "race against time" to find survivors of a powerful earthquake amid forecasts of heavy rain and cold overnight, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has warned.
Mr Abe admitted rescue operations throughout the night in the Kyushu region "will be extremely difficult".
At least 32 people have been killed and hundreds injured, with thousands forced to seek refuge outdoors and dozens still feared trapped beneath rubble.
A quake on Thursday killed nine people.
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Media captionThe BBC's Robin Brant reports from the deserted streets of Mashiki
At the scene: Robin Brant, BBC News, Mashiki
It's raining, it's cold and there's no-one here: Mashiki is deserted.
It's not safe to stay. Walk round for 30 seconds and you'll see why - house after house has crumpled or shifted off its foundations. They are mostly single-storey or small apartment blocks. One has a crushed camper van partially holding it up. Another has a balcony that's been forced forward and is now teetering dangerously over the road.
A handful of cars passed us, slowing to swerve around the roof tiles that lie shattered on the road after the front of one small house fell forward, like something out of a Charlie Chaplin movie. Inside you can see furniture, exposed by the earthquake. There's a blue framed walking frame getting wet in the rain.
Both quakes were shallow and struck close to the city of Kumamoto, causing huge damage to roads, bridges, tunnels, homes and buildings.
Big landslides have cut off remote mountain villages.
Some 100,000 households remain without power while around 400,000 homes are without water.
Mr Abe told an emergency meeting on Saturday evening that the rain and winds had begun and "are expected to get stronger".
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36061583