Japan intensifies search efforts in wake of deadly earthquakes

The desperate search for survivors intensified on Sunday in the splintered remains of buildings destroyed by Japan’s deadly earthquake and authorities ordered nearly a quarter of a million people from their homes amid fears of further quakes.

A 7.3 magnitude tremor struck early on Saturday morning, killing at least 32 people, injuring about a thousand more and causing widespread damage to houses, roads and bridges.

It was the second major quake to hit Kumamoto province on the island of Kyushu in just over 24 hours. The first, late on Thursday, killed nine people.

Three nuclear plants in the region were unaffected by the quake, but the Nuclear Regulation Authority said it will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss the situation.

A massive 9 magnitude quake and tsunami in northern Japan in 2011 caused the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl in 1986, shutting down the nuclear industry for safety checks. The first reactor to restart was Kyushu Electric’s Sendai No. 1, which is one of the three reactors in the quake region.

The Kumamoto region is an important manufacturing hub and factories for companies including Sony Corp, Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Toyota halted production as they assessed damage. Sony’s factory supplies Apple with image sensors for iPhones.

All commercial flights to the damaged Kumamoto airport were cancelled and Japan’s bullet train to the region suspended. Expressways are closed in wide areas because of landslides and cracks in the road surface, hindering supplies of water and food reaching survivors.

Digging by hand for survivors

Rescuers on Sunday searched for dozens of people feared trapped or buried alive.
In the village of Minamiaso, 11 people remain “out of contact”, said public broadcaster NHK. Rescuers pulled 10 students out of a collapsed university apartment in the same settlement on Saturday.

“In Minamiaso, where the damage is concentrated, there may still be people trapped under collapsed buildings, so we are focusing our attention and rescue and search efforts in this area,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

Overnight, rescuers digging with their bare hands dragged some elderly survivors, still in their pyjamas, out of the rubble and onto makeshift stretchers made of tatami mats.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would boost the number of troops helping to 25,000 and had accepted a U.S offer of help with air transportation in the rescue efforts.

Heavy rains fuelled worries of more landslides and with hundreds of aftershocks and fears of more quakes, thousands spent the night in evacuation centres.

“It’s full in there. There’s not a inch to sleep or even walk about in there. It’s impossible in there,” a resident of Mashiki town said outside an evacuation centre.

Another survivor said the cleanup would be extensive.

“I can’t even imagine when we can start the recovery process. My home is a mess, I don’t know what to do next. And all these people affected.”

Firefighters handed out tarpaulins to residents so they could cover damaged roofs, but many homes were simply deserted.

About 422,000 households were without water and 100,000 without electricity, the government said. NHK said around 240,000 people had received evacuation orders across the affected region amid fears of landslides.

Troops set up tents for evacuees and water trucks were being sent to the area while television footage showed people stranded after the fall of a bridge being rescued by helicopters.

The National Police Agency said 32 people had been confirmed dead in Saturday’s quake. The government said about 190 of those injured were in a serious condition.

‘Ring of fire’

On the other side of the Pacific, Ecuador was also struggling with the aftermath of a major 7.8 quake which hit on Saturday, killing at least 28 people and sparking a tsunami warning.

Both Japan and Ecuador are on the seismically active “ring of fire” around the Pacific Ocean. Japan’s 2011 quake and tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people.

The epicentre of Saturday’s quake was near the city of Kumamoto and measured at a shallow depth of 10 km (six miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. The shallower a quake, the more likely it is to cause damage.

The city’s 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle was badly damaged, with its walls breached after having withstood bombardment and fire in its four centuries of existence.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, speaking at a G20 event in Washington, said it was too early to assess the economic impact but bank operations in Kumamoto were normal.

The USGS estimated there was a 72 percent likelihood of economic damage exceeding $10 billion, adding that it was too early to be specific. Major insurers are yet to release estimates.

Rescuers race against time as second quake strikes Japan

Japanese rescuers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings and mud on Saturday to reach dozens believed trapped after a powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck a southern island, killing at least 26 people and injuring about a thousand.

The shallow earthquake hit in the early hours, sending people fleeing from their beds and on to dark streets, and follows a 6.4 magnitude quake on Thursday which killed nine people in the area.

Television footage showed fires, power outages, collapsed bridges and gaping holes in the earth. Residents near a dam were told to leave because of fears it might crumble, broadcaster NHK said.

“I felt strong shaking at first, then I was thrown about like I was in a washing machine,” said a Tokai University student who remains isolated in the village of Minamiaso in Kumamoto province on the island of Kyushu.

“All the lights went out and I heard a loud noise. A lot of gas is leaking and while there hasn’t been a fire, that remains a concern,” the student, who is sheltering in a university gym with 1,000 other students and residents, told Japanese media.

There were also concerns for those trapped under rubble overnight with heavy rain forecast and the temperature expected to drop to 13 degrees Celsius (55 degrees Fahrenheit).

About 190 of those injured were in serious condition, the government said.

Many frightened people wrapped in blankets sat outside their homes while others camped out in rice fields in rural areas surrounding the main towns. About 422,000 households were without water, and about 100,000 without electricity, the government said. Troops were setting up tents for evacuees and water trucks were being sent to the area.

“The wind is expected to pick up and rain will likely get heavier. Rescue operations at night will be extremely difficult,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a government meeting. “But there are people waiting for help. Please do your utmost while putting top priority on human lives.”

The speed of rescue efforts was critical given that rain could further damage weakened buildings and cause landslides.

“Nothing is more important than human life and it’s a race against time,” Abe said.
Self Defense Forces personnel in the town of Mashiki, close to the epicentre, were providing food and water.

“I don’t mind standing in line. I’m just thankful for some food,” said a man in his 60s waiting in line for a meal.

Japan is on the seismically active “ring of fire” around the Pacific Ocean and has building codes aimed at helping structures withstand earthquakes.

A magnitude 9 quake in March 2011 north of Tokyo touched off a massive tsunami and nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima, contaminating water, food and air for miles around. Nearly 20,000 people were killed in the tsunami.

The epicentre of Saturday’s quake was near the city of Kumamoto and measured at a shallow depth of 10 km (six miles), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. The shallower a quake, the more likely it is to cause damage.

Tsunami alert lifted

The city’s 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle was badly damaged, with its walls breached after having withstood bombardment and fire in its four centuries of existence.

The quake triggered a tsunami advisory which was later lifted and no irregularities were reported at three nuclear power plants in the area, a senior government official said.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, speaking at a G20 event in Washington, said it was too early to assess the economic impact but bank operations in Kumamoto were normal.

The USGS, which is a government scientific body, estimated that there was a 72 percent likelihood of economic damage exceeding $10 billion, adding that it was too early to be specific. Major insurers are yet to release estimates.

Electronics giant Sony Corp said a factory producing image sensors for smartphone makers will remain closed while it assesses the damage from the quakes. One of its major customers is Apple which uses the sensors in iPhones.

Toyota Motor Corp halted production at three plants producing vehicles, engines and trans axles in Fukuoka. Toyota said there was no damage at its plants, but it was checking the status of its suppliers. It will decide on Sunday whether to resume production.

Nissan Motor Co Ltd stopped production at its Fukuoka plant which produces vehicles including the Serena, Teana, Murano and Note.

South Korea said it had rented five buses to transport 200 South Korean tourists « stranded » in Oita, to the east of Kumamoto.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said nearly 80 people were believed trapped or buried in rubble. Rescuers managed to pull 10 students out of a collapsed university apartment in the town of Minami on Saturday.

Extra troops would be sent to help, with up to 20,000 due by Sunday, as well as more police, firefighters and medics, he said. “We are making every effort to respond,” Suga said.

The region’s transport network suffered considerable damage with one tunnel caved in, a highway bridge damaged, roads blocked by landslips and train services halted, Japanese media reported. Kumamoto airport was also closed.

There have been more than 230 aftershocks of at least level 1 on the Japanese scale since Thursday’s shock, said Japan’s meteorological agency.

“We have already seen of several of the mid to upper 5 plus magnitude range, and over the next several days and weeks, we would not be surprised to see more earthquakes of this size,” said John Bellini, a geophysicist with the USGS.

The 2011 Fukushima quake temporarily crippled part of Japan’s auto supply chain in particular, but some companies have since adjusted the industry’s “Just in Time” production philosophy in a bid to limit any repeat of the disruption.

Japan hit by a second major earthquake in two days

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck southern Japan early on Saturday, just over 24 hours after a quake killed nine people and injured at least 1,000 in the same area.

The Saturday quake triggered a tsunami advisory, though it was later lifted and no irregularities were reported at three nuclear power plants in the area, Japanese media reported.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in the Saturday quake though there were several reports of damage, including some collapsed buildings and cracked roads.

The epicentre of the quake was near the city of Kumamoto and measured at a shallow depth of 10 km, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake on Thursday evening in the same region was of 6.4 magnitude.

“Thursday’s quake might have been a foreshock of this one,” Shinji Toda, a professor at Tohoku University, told national broadcaster NHK.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the Saturday quake was 7.1 magnitude and it initially issued a tsunami advisory, which identifies the presence of a marine threat and asks people to leave coastal regions, for the Ariake and Yatsushiro seas.

NHK said the advisory suggested a possible wave of one metre in height. The advisory was later lifted.

Several aftershocks rattled the region later on Saturday, including one of 5.8 magnitude.

NHK quoted an official at a hospital near the epicentre as saying it had lost power after the Saturday quake and had to use its generators.

Most of the casualties in the Thursday quake came in the town of Mashiki, near the epicentre, where several houses collapsed.

A magnitude 9 quake in March 2011, to the north of Tokyo, touched off a massive tsunami and nuclear meltdowns at Fukushima. Nearly 20,000 people were killed in the tsunami.

Rescuers race to find survivers after deadly quake in Japan

Rescuers searched through rubble for possible survivors Friday after a powerful earthquake in southern Japan left at least nine people dead and hundreds injured, though officials said the toll was unlikely to rise dramatically.

More than 44,000 people fled their homes to community centres and schools after the 6.5-magnitude quake struck the southwestern island of Kyushu on Thursday night, leaving lumps of broken concrete strewn in the streets.

Houses collapsed, factories stopped work and a high-speed train was derailed, while the roof of the treasured Kumamoto castle in the southern city of the same name was also damaged.

"The house shook up and down," said Nobuyuki Morita, 67, a resident of the worst-hit town of Mashiki in Kumamoto prefecture, adding that he was watching TV at home when the quake struck.

"I was really surprised," he said. "I had never experienced such a big quake since I was born."

He and his wife spent the night in their car as the roof of their house had collapsed and furniture toppled over.

More than 130 aftershocks followed the quake, which hit about 9:26pm (1226 GMT) on Thursday evening. While officials said that the frequency had begun to taper off, they cautioned there was a risk of further strong aftershocks for about a week.

As rescue workers toiled through the night, an eight-month-old baby girl was pulled from the rubble alive and unharmed.

"As far as we can tell from infrared images from a police helicopter, there appears to be a significant number of houses destroyed or half-collapsed," said disaster minister Taro Kono.

Rescuers were concentrating their searches in Mashiki, near the epicentre of the quake where eight of the nine deaths occurred.

On the streets, the remains of collapsed Japanese-style houses – many of them aged, wooden structures – could be seen, and damaged roof tiles lay in piles.

A rescue team with several search dogs patrolled around half-collapsed houses in the town but no new deaths have been announced for more than 11 hours.

Scores of people spent the night huddled in front of Mashiki's town hall, some in tears, while others wrapped themselves in blankets to ward off the nighttime chill.

‘MANY ARE IN A STATE OF SHOCK AND CONFUSION’

Nuclear plants safe

By Friday afternoon, the government said it had confirmed that 881 people were injured, at least 52 seriously. An official from the local Kumamoto disaster agency said at least nine were dead.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press conference that the death toll was unlikely to sharply increase, but that search operations were continuing just to make sure.

He added that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to visit Kumamoto on Saturday to meet victims.

Gen Aoki, a Japan Meteorological Agency seismologist, urged residents to be on guard for more aftershocks and warned that rain in coming days could make the situation worse.

About 24,900 households in Kumamoto prefecture have been left without water, according to the government, a big improvement from an earlier figure of about 57,000.

Nuclear plants in the region were unaffected, but several major manufacturers including Honda, Bridgestone, and Sony said they had suspended operations at factories in the area.

Train services on Kyushu were temporarily halted after the earthquake and a super-fast bullet train derailed – luckily while it was empty – said Yusuke Nanri, a spokesman for operator JR Kyushu.

Bullet train services, however, remained suspended, JR said on its website.

Some 1,600 military personnel were joined by nearly 2,000 police officers and more than 1,300 firefighters to help in the search-and-rescue efforts, Suga said.

The initial quake, which struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), was followed two and a half hours later by another measuring 6.4 magnitude, according to Japan's meteorological agency. The US Geological Survey measured it a lower 6.2 magnitude.

Japan, one of the most seismically active countries in the world, suffered a massive undersea quake on March 11, 2011 that sent a tsunami barrelling into the country's northeast coast.

Some 18,500 people were left dead or missing, and several nuclear reactors went into meltdown at the Fukushima plant in the worst atomic accident in a generation.

Philippine soldiers killed in operation against Islamist militants

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Philippines Islamist militants hostages
Philippine soldiers killed in operation against Islamist militants
Latest update : 10/04/2016






© Mark Navales, AFP | Archival picture shows Philippine soldiers on an operation against Islamic militants in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on March 1, 2016
Article text by NEWS WIRES

A Philippine offensive against the extremist Abu Sayyaf group after a spate of kidnappings has left 18 soldiers and five fighters dead in the worst violence in the troubled south this year, authorities said Sunday.

Saturday's clashes on the strife-torn island of Basilan came after an April 8 ransom deadline set by Abu Sayyaf, who had threatened to behead some of their foreign hostages.

At least four soldiers were beheaded in the fighting which involved about a hundred Abu Sayyaf, regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said.

"This is part of the military operations against the Abu Sayyaf," launched after a series of abductions of foreigners, he told reporters.

Another military spokesman said the soldiers were on their way to attack an Abu Sayyaf hideout when they were ambushed.

"Our group was heading to attack them. On the way, they were ambushed," Colonel Benedict Manquiquis, spokesman for the unit involved in the battle, told radio station DZRH.

"The enemy had the high ground so no matter where our soldiers fled to seek cover, they could still be hit by the heavy firepower and improvised explosive devices of the members of the Abu Sayyaf group," he said.

Major Tan said that 53 soldiers and about 20 Abu Sayyaf had also been wounded in the violence but he did not give details.

The clash came shortly after a retired Italian priest being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf was freed on Friday.

Last month the Abu Sayyaf posted a video to their Facebook page in which a Norwegian and two Canadian hostages said they would be killed if the ransom was not paid.

While the ransom amount was not specified, the militants in an earlier video demanded one billion pesos ($21 million) for each of the three foreigners.

Since the April 8 ransom deadline passed there has been no word on the hostages' fate.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small group of militants known for kidnapping foreigners and demanding huge ransoms.

Eighteen other foreign hostages are being held in the Philippines, most or all of them thought to be in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf.

The group was established in the early 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.

It has been blamed for the country's worst terror attacks, including a 2004 Manila Bay ferry bombing that claimed 116 lives.

Its leaders have in recent years pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group that controls vast swathes of Iraq and Syria.

They are based in the southern islands of Basilan and Jolo which both have large Muslim populations.

Various Muslim separatist insurgencies in the southern Philippines have claimed more than 100,000 lives since the 1970s.

Source

After the massacre: Indonesia's first step in healing

Official symposium held for the 500,000 people killed during 1960s communist purge, but truth still elusive for victims.

Jakarta, Indonesia - Sumini travelled from her village in Central Java to the capital to ask just one question: "What did I do wrong?"

Indonesian men and women in their late 60s and 70s, clearly tainted by a life of struggle, bravely grabbed their first opportunity to speak out in more than 50 years. Voices breaking with emotion, they spoke clearly and undeniably about mass killings, torture, and unlawful detentions that started in 1965.

Sumini, then 18 years old, had joined a women's organisation linked to the Communist Party because she wanted to empower female farmers. Though she survived, she spent years in prison without any trial and faced discrimination formthe rest of her life.

The Indonesian government's decision to open this dark chapter has been lauded by human rights advocates, but it was a long time coming. It took years of pressure from activists and the film by Joshua Oppenheimer who gave the world a gruelling inside look with the Act of Killing, but most of all the courage of thousands of survivors who never stopped fighting for justice.

Their testimonies at a government-sponsored symposium in Jakarta were fragments of a long-hidden truth. They reveal a military that was ordered to go on a murder spree in villages around the country after General Suharto took power. The Communist Party, then the second largest in the world, got the blame for a failed coup and the murder of six generals.

A process of justice was not enough, Suharto and his troops aided by paramilitary groups, Islamic organisations, and the CIA decided to wipe out anyone remotely linked to the Communists.

Researchers estimate that at least half a million people died. As a result, Indonesia lost a whole generation of intellectuals, farmers, and social activists.

After decades of anti-communist propaganda, the killers still to this day believe they did the right thing. The massacre of 1965 is one of the worst in the 20th century and still divides Indonesians.

The government of President Joko Widodo was the first to break the silence - despite pressure from the military and conservative groups that still insist that talking to victims means giving room to communism. Just last week a discussion organised by survivors before the government symposium was forcefully broken up after threats by a radical group.

But from the start of the Jakarta symposium it was clear that the government was still not prepared to reveal the full truth. A high-ranking general active in 1965 and the government's security minister immediately denied any mass killings took place. Minister Luhut Pandjaitan estimated that fewer than 1,000 people died - a shocking statement for survivors to hear.

They had travelled from all over the country hoping to be able to hear and tell the truth. But instead of walking out angrily, most just shook their heads and continued their mission of truth-telling.

The response showed how immune victims have become after decades of official lies, and how firmly they wanted to use this unique - and maybe only - opportunity to tell their side of the story.Their hopes for justice and a formal government apology are slim. But now the government has opened a Pandora's box.

President Joko will have to come up with a solution acceptable to all those millions of Indonesians whose rights have been denied for more than half a century.

A truth and reconciliation commission, South Africa-style, has been mentioned. But so far the government seems only interested in reconciliation - not so much in the truth.
Source

Rescuers race to find survivors after deadly quake in Japan

Rescuers searched through rubble for possible survivors Friday after a powerful earthquake in southern Japan left at least nine people dead and hundreds injured, though officials said the toll was unlikely to rise dramatically.

More than 44,000 people fled their homes to community centres and schools after the 6.5-magnitude quake struck the southwestern island of Kyushu on Thursday night, leaving lumps of broken concrete strewn in the streets.

Houses collapsed, factories stopped work and a high-speed train was derailed, while the roof of the treasured Kumamoto castle in the southern city of the same name was also damaged.

"The house shook up and down," said Nobuyuki Morita, 67, a resident of the worst-hit town of Mashiki in Kumamoto prefecture, adding that he was watching TV at home when the quake struck.

"I was really surprised," he said. "I had never experienced such a big quake since I was born."

He and his wife spent the night in their car as the roof of their house had collapsed and furniture toppled over.

More than 130 aftershocks followed the quake, which hit about 9:26pm (1226 GMT) on Thursday evening. While officials said that the frequency had begun to taper off, they cautioned there was a risk of further strong aftershocks for about a week.

As rescue workers toiled through the night, an eight-month-old baby girl was pulled from the rubble alive and unharmed.

"As far as we can tell from infrared images from a police helicopter, there appears to be a significant number of houses destroyed or half-collapsed," said disaster minister Taro Kono.

Rescuers were concentrating their searches in Mashiki, near the epicentre of the quake where eight of the nine deaths occurred.

On the streets, the remains of collapsed Japanese-style houses – many of them aged, wooden structures – could be seen, and damaged roof tiles lay in piles.

A rescue team with several search dogs patrolled around half-collapsed houses in the town but no new deaths have been announced for more than 11 hours.

Scores of people spent the night huddled in front of Mashiki's town hall, some in tears, while others wrapped themselves in blankets to ward off the nighttime chill.

‘MANY ARE IN A STATE OF SHOCK AND CONFUSION’

Nuclear plants safe

By Friday afternoon, the government said it had confirmed that 881 people were injured, at least 52 seriously. An official from the local Kumamoto disaster agency said at least nine were dead.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press conference that the death toll was unlikely to sharply increase, but that search operations were continuing just to make sure.

He added that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to visit Kumamoto on Saturday to meet victims.

Gen Aoki, a Japan Meteorological Agency seismologist, urged residents to be on guard for more aftershocks and warned that rain in coming days could make the situation worse.

About 24,900 households in Kumamoto prefecture have been left without water, according to the government, a big improvement from an earlier figure of about 57,000.

Nuclear plants in the region were unaffected, but several major manufacturers including Honda, Bridgestone, and Sony said they had suspended operations at factories in the area.

Train services on Kyushu were temporarily halted after the earthquake and a super-fast bullet train derailed – luckily while it was empty – said Yusuke Nanri, a spokesman for operator JR Kyushu.

Bullet train services, however, remained suspended, JR said on its website.

Some 1,600 military personnel were joined by nearly 2,000 police officers and more than 1,300 firefighters to help in the search-and-rescue efforts, Suga said.

The initial quake, which struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), was followed two and a half hours later by another measuring 6.4 magnitude, according to Japan's meteorological agency. The US Geological Survey measured it a lower 6.2 magnitude.

Japan, one of the most seismically active countries in the world, suffered a massive undersea quake on March 11, 2011 that sent a tsunami barrelling into the country's northeast coast.

Some 18,500 people were left dead or missing, and several nuclear reactors went into meltdown at the Fukushima plant in the worst atomic accident in a generation.

Source