Several people trapped inside a shopping mall, Aeon Mall, are feared dead after a floor collapsed during the 7.1-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday in southwestern Japan.
Without specifying a number, emergency services told news agency AFP that there were “many people” trapped inside the shopping complex in Kashima town, whose second floor collapsed.
Police said earlier they had received reports of what sounded like an explosion at the Aeon Mall outlet in the Kumamoto region, with no information on damage or any casualties.
The earthquake has knocked out power to thousands of homes, ruptured roads, and left some trapped.
Around 300,000 people have been instructed to go to evacuation centres, the disaster management agency said.
