International
Fresh earthquake hits southwestern Japan
A fresh round of earthquake has hit the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu following a second tremor which left 19 more people dead.
Authorities in Japan have deployed more troops after the quake toppled more buildings causing massive landslides a day after an initial tremor left at least nine people dead and over a thousand others injured.
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Yoshihide Suga, Japanese government spokesperson, said over 1,500 people have been injured, 80 of them seriously, by the two quakes on the southwestern Kyushu island.
Continuing, Suga says the military will be boosted to 20,000 for rescue efforts. Police and firefighters are also being ordered to the southwestern region.
“We have just been woken up by a very large earthquake in the main town of Kumamoto. Things were thrown about in the hotel,” said Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from Mashiki near the epicentre.
“We can’t see much damage, but we feel very large aftershocks.”
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