At least 19 people died and more than 1,000 were injured in a magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck the southern Japanese island of Kyushu early Saturday, while a series of aftershocks rattled the region, authorities said. According to dpa, dozens more were trapped or buried under rubble, and the government was to increase the number of troops to be dispatched to the region to 20,000 within two days, from 2,000 already on site, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference. Two university students have been confirmed dead after they were buried under a leveled apartment building in Minamiaso village, broadcaster NHK reported, while many others also died after they had been trapped under collapsed houses. The quake, first estimated at a magnitude of 7.0, hit after nine people were killed and 1,100 injured in a magnitude-6.5 earthquake Thursday in the same region - the strongest in five years. Saturday's quake occurred at 1:25 am (1625 GMT Friday) with its epicentre in the Kumamoto prefecture at a depth of 12 kilometres, and was followed by a series of aftershocks, the Meteorological Agency said. More damage to houses and buildings were reported Saturday in the prefecture's town of Mashiki, the hardest-hit area of the tremor Thursday evening, 900 kilometres south-west of Tokyo. TV footage showed flattened houses, collapsing apartment buildings, cracks on roads and a large-scale landslide in Minamiaso village, 20 kilometres to the east of Mashiki.
