Hope dwindles for rescue in southwestern Japan quake as death toll climbs to 23

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 Tuesday.

Magnitude 7.1 quake that hit Tuesday on island of Kyushu set off explosion at a mall and flattened homes

Hope dwindles for rescue in southwestern Japan quake as death toll climbs to 23  Toronto Star

The Kumamoto prefectural government says the powerful earthquake that hit southwestern Japan earlier this week has now killed at least 23 people

The Kumamoto prefectural government says the powerful earthquake that hit southwestern Japan earlier this week has now killed at least 23 people

Hope dwindles for rescue in southwestern Japan quake as death toll climbs to 23  AP News

TOUGH CONDITIONS: More than 8,800 residents sought refuge as utilities failed and crews, including some from Taiwan, helped searched for survivors AP and Reuters, KUMAMOTO and YATSUSHIRO, Japan Add TT as Preferred Source Soldiers and emergency workers yesterday combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu also left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously.

The sweltering weather heightened worries about the survivors as rescuers braved the heat. It remained unclear how many people might still be missing.

Death Toll Rises To 18 As Rescuers Comb Through Quake Rubble In Southwestern Japan  HuffPost

Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan.

Dozens more remain trapped underneath the rubble as authorities race against the clock to save as many people as possible during the critical 72 hour rescue period. The tremor is the most powerful to hit the region in 10 years since a 7.0 magnitude quake recorded in 2016.