At least two people were killed and 45 injured by a magnitude-6.5 earthquake that knocked down houses and buckled roads in southern Japan tonight.
Both victims are from the hardest-hit town of Mashiki, about 15 kilometres east of Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu, said Kumamoto prefecture disaster management official Takayuki Matsushita.
Earlier, Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital said it had admitted or treated 45 people, including five with serious injuries.
The quake struck at 9:26 PM at a depth of 11 kilometres near Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. There was no tsunami risk.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at least 19 houses collapsed, and hundreds of calls came in reporting building damage and people buried under debris or trapped inside. “There are no abnormalities at nearby nuclear facilities. The epicentre was 120 kilometres northeast of Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai nuclear plant, the only one operating in the country,” he said
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, "We'll carry out relief operation through the night," he said.