Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi said it was a ‘race against time’ to rescue those still trapped in markets and other victims of the earthquake.
Thousands of shoppers and store workers, who were quickly evacuated by workers after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake, watched in horror as the blast tore through Kumamoto’s Aeon mall, exposing steel structures and clearing debris from the parking lot.
Workers at one of Japan’s largest shopping malls are described as being thrown to the ground and covered in thick dust from an explosion that occurred after Tuesday’s massive earthquake.
“I thought a bomb had exploded,” Takateru Sonoda, 41, who runs a hair salon and restaurant near the mall, told news agency Jiji Press.
“There were people who were calling others to come out, and sirens were sounding. The nearby roads were blocked;
First responders, fearing they were involved in the crash, pulled eight people from the scene of the partial collapse Wednesday, three dead among them.
The condition of the workers at the three stores is still unknown, Aeon said, adding that it is investigating a gas leak that may have caused the explosion.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Wednesday that “time is running out” to rescue those trapped in shopping malls and other victims of the earthquake.
About 170 soldiers have been sent to help rescue people at the site.
All 25 cats left in the cat cafe during the emergency evacuation were rescued on Wednesday, the owner of the cafe said in a social media statement, thanking the rescue workers.
Aeon mall had just reopened last month, a new and exciting place, after recovering from another deadly earthquake a decade ago.
After being heavily damaged in the 7.3 magnitude Kumamoto earthquake in April 2016, the operator showed off its extremely strong roof and significant improvements in safety and resilience.
Across the street, in a tavern about 300 meters from the market, Kazuya Tsurunaga was washing dishes and glasses broken by the earthquake when he heard a deafening explosion.
“There was a lot of smoke coming out, and because the wind was blowing, and the wind was facing the shop, it was like volcanic ash falling around us,” he told a TBS reporter.
Police and firefighters were careful to avoid the crash because of the risk of further collapse amid several aftershocks, a police officer said. By late Tuesday, more than 100 earthquakes had occurred in Kumamoto.
Aeon President Akio Yoshida told a press conference on Wednesday that workers had evacuated 3,000 customers within half an hour of the quake. But a lucky few were inside when, 50 minutes later, the explosion occurred.
“We confirmed that all the customers were evacuated. We believed that the staff also escaped, but later it became known that some people remained inside, or returned for whatever reason,” said Yoshida, adding that one survivor was found injured in the toilet.
Video taken by a police officer inside the building early Wednesday showed the main roof collapsing, the store’s stairs opening and furniture falling to the floor.
Yoshida said that the possibility that the explosion was caused by gas was “very high”, but that a thorough investigation was needed to understand what went wrong.
“We did not expect such an explosion to happen,” he said. “We’ve never had an accident like this before.”
