Business was winding down for the day at Sendan Shokudo, a restaurant in the southwestern Japanese city of Yatsushiro, when the entire building suddenly swayed. Everything on the kitchen shelves fell to the floor; Bowls and glasses shattered. The restaurant’s co-owner, Hiroko Ogata, 75, had just entered. “I was shocked and scared,” she told BBC
A pedestrian bridge also collapsed in the Kumamoto region. It is unclear if anyone was injured or when the collapse occurred. Traffic appears to circulate on the bridge that runs parallel to it. More than 40,000 homes are without electricity, according to an update on Kyushu Electric’s website. There has also been damage to the
Several people are trapped inside a shopping mall after a strong earthquake hit southwestern Japan, authorities say. Some reports say there was an explosion at the Aeon Mall in Kumamoto, following the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that injured several people. The earthquake struck inland on the island of Kyushu at 16:27 local time (07:27 GMT), and
A powerful 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of southern Mexico on Friday, triggering a tsunami warning for parts of the Pacific. No fatalities or significant damage have been reported in Mexico or Guatemala from the earthquake, which was also felt in El Salvador. Mexico’s Navy Secretary, Admiral Raymundo Morales, said at a news
Amid the desperation created by the two earthquakes in Venezuela, there are also incredible stories of survival. In La Guaira, northern Venezuela, BBC international correspondent Yogita Limaye met a 12-year-old girl who was pulled from the rubble on Friday after more than thirty hours. Apart from a fracture in her left foot and some scratches
Karina Blanco was about to start the spinning class she teaches when the earth began to shake. The tremors were getting stronger, so she grabbed her bag and ran out with everyone else. “When I realized the magnitude of this, I started screaming ‘my daughter, my daughter’. I sat in my car and drove as