Japan earthquake: Powerful new tremor in Kumamoto   熊本地震 第6週

Who: Not given

When: In the middle of the night
Where: The southern Japanese city of Kumamoto

Why: Not given

How: A more powerful earthquake has rocked 

A more powerful earthquake has rocked the southern Japanese city of Kumamoto in the middle of the night, a day after an earlier tremor killed nine people.

The magnitude-7.3 quake hit at a depth of 10km (six miles) at 01:25 on Saturday (15:25 GMT on Friday) in Kyushu region. At least three people died and hundreds were injured.

In one town near the coast, the city hall has been so badly damaged there are fears it could collapse. A hospital has been evacuated because it is no longer safe.

Thousands of people have fled on to the streets and into parks - where they are huddled under blankets looking dazed and afraid, our correspondent says.

But there are numerous reports of people trapped inside buildings, including at least 60 inside an old people's home.

That quake sparked a huge tsunami and nuclear meltdown at a power plant in Fukushima.

Most of those who died in Thursday's quake were in the town of Mashiki where an apartment building collapsed and many houses were damaged.

More than 1,000 people were injured.


Some 40,000 people had initially fled their homes, with many of those closest to the epicentre spending the night outside, as more than 130 aftershocks had hit the area.


Location:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36059487

Key words:

magnitude-7.3 quake :震級7.3
Kyushu:九州
evacuated:疏散
huddled:擁擠
tsunami:海嘯
nuclear meltdown:核能外洩
power plant:發電廠
Fukushima:福島
Mashiki:益城町
epicentre:震央