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Kurihara: The death toll from Saturday’s earthquake in Japan rose to nine on Sunday, as recue workers recovered three more people from the under the rubble of an inn on Sunday in a hot spring resort, a local government official said.
Seven people had been trapped in the two-storey inn, whose first floor had completely collapsed when the quake hit.
The 7.2 magnitude quake struck in the sparsely populated areas of Miyagi Iwate on Saturday.
More than 260 aftershocks had been felt by Sunday morning in the northern area, prompting officials to warn that more earthquakes might come.
The force of the quake shattered roads, cutting off access to many affected areas. Rescuers struggled to work their way through narrow mountain paths to reach devastated sites.
"In this case, it's a very mountainous area and if the roads are cut, even if you call out the troops, you can't get in," a military official said.
A dam created by the quake had begun to leak water, the official said. Around 30 homes were situated near the dam, but authorities had not asked people to evacuate yet.
"At least 2,000 people were trapped on trains that stopped between stations due to the quake, while more than 300 people were cut off in remote areas after landslides blocked roads.
The government has mobilised troops, police and fire department rescue teams to find and care for the injured and to recover the dead.
"We are doing all that we can," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told reporters. "The most important thing is to rescue people."
Six people had been confirmed dead, and local media said 226 were injured.
One of the people killed was caught in a landslide, while a second man was hit by a car after running out of a building and a third was killed by falling rocks at a construction site.
However, the effect of the quake is much less than the devastating one that ravaged China last month, experts say.
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