Hope dwindles for rescue of Japan quake victims as death toll reaches 30

RURAL communities in south-western Japan were struggling to get their lives back to normal today, two days after a powerful earthquake set off an explosion at a shopping centre, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes, killing at least 30 people. Time was running out to find survivors, as rescuers continued to work in the Kumamoto area on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit on Tuesday.