Search on for missing as Japan quake deaths rise to 9

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-15  |     ONLINE EDITION

MORE than 1,000 rescue workers including troops searched today for 13 people missing after a powerful earthquake rocked northern Japan, killing at least nine and injuring over 200.

The 7.2 magnitude quake struck yesterday morning in the prefectures of Miyagi and Iwate, a sparsely populated, scenic region around 300 km north of Tokyo, where buildings also shook.

Mountains were carved away by the force of the quake, trees crashed into newly slashed ravines, roads were cut off by landslides, and bridges buckled and broke.

More than 260 aftershocks had jolted the area by this morning, and officials warned there could be strong quakes to come.

Efforts to find seven people believed trapped in a hot spring resort swamped by a massive landslide resumed early this morning.

Rescue workers picked their way through debris while scores of others, including soldiers, began carefully crossing a river of mud covered with makeshift wooden boards to get to the two-story inn, whose first floor had completely collapsed, footage from NHK public TV showed.

Several hours later, the rescuers recovered three bodies from the crushed inn, a local government official said, adding that the search would continue for those unaccounted for.

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," said Masaaki Sakakibara, a military official in charge of coordinating rescue operations in Kurihara near the epicentre.

"We are very lucky this time because the weather is good, so we can use helicopters. The roads here are very narrow and this limits access."

SCATTERED AND SMASHED

Homes were littered with scattered and smashed belongings.