Rescuers search for survivors after a 7.1 quake kills 18 in southwestern Japan

Soldiers and emergency workers are combing 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

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.

Some of the most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall in the city of Kashima.

The death toll from Japan’s Kyushu island quake rises to 13.

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.

The 7.1-magnitude quake struck southwestern Japan on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 13 people, seriously injuring seven and leaving tens of thousands of homes without power amid widespread damage.

A major earthquake that severely damaged a shopping mall and a factory in Japan killed at least 13 people, officials said Wednesday, as rescuers desperately tried to reach survivors feared trapped in the wreckage.

Japan's southern prefecture of Kumamoto lives with the memory of a massive 2016 earthquake that killed hundreds.

A major earthquake that severely damaged a shopping mall and a factory in Japan killed at least 13 people, offficials said Wednesday, as rescuers desperately tried to reach survivors feared trapped in the wreckage.

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Japan's southern Kumamoto prefecture today, knocking out power to thousands of homes, rupturing roads and leaving some trapped and ⁠others presumed dead inside a partially collapsed shopping centre.