Japan earthquake kills nine; more aftershocks expected

By Holly Yan and Yoko Wakatsuki, CNN

Updated 0200 GMT (0900 HKT) April 15, 2016

Story highlights

Almost 800 injured, Kumamoto Prefecture disaster office says
Death toll at nine, says state broadcaster NHK, citing police officials
Aftershocks are expected to continue for a week, meaning weakened buildings could collapse

Tokyo (CNN)At least nine people died when an earthquake struck Japan late Thursday, the Kumamoto Prefecture disaster management office said.

Search crews scrambled to dig through rubble in southern Japan, looking for people trapped under collapsed buildings.

The magnitude-6.2 quake struck near Ueki, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Dozens of smaller aftershocks followed.

"The ground shook for about 20 seconds before the 6.2-magnitude quake stopped," witness Lim Ting Jie said.

Two deaths occurred in Mashiki, the Kumamoto Prefecture office said. One person died in a collapsed house, and the other died in a fire caused by the quake.

Hiroaki Honda was eating dinner when he felt Thursday's earthquake. He took this photo of the damaged Kotohira Shrine -- which was largely damaged, except for a vending machine.

Nearly 800 people were injured, 50 severely. The prefecture office said 44,449 people had evacuated.

Gen Aoki, director of the Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake division, warned more aftershocks could occur over the next week.

"This is an earthquake that is going to shake for a long time," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

That could mean many more building collapses.

"The buildings that were damaged in the original shock have now been redamaged or reshaken," he said. "And all of a sudden you have a cracked building, and it wants to fall down with the second shake."

Huge impact

A shop clerk clears broken wine bottles after the quake in Japan.

An estimated 750,000 people felt "violent to severe shaking," Myers said.

"The strongest shaking was right where the most people live" in the area, he said.

While the magnitude might not seem extreme, the shallow depth of the quake -- just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) -- is significant.

"When you have a shallow earthquake, such as this one is, you have the potential for more damage because the shaking is close to the surface," John Bellini of the U.S. Geological Survey said.

In addition to destroying 19 houses, the quake hurled items off store shelves and littered streets with rubble.

But there's one bit of good news: The quake was centered mostly under land, not an ocean, meaning it did not spawn a major tsunami.

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A high-risk area

Japan, which sits along the so-called Ring of Fire, is no stranger to earthquakes.

The devastating 2011 Japan quake and tsunami killed 20,000.

The largest recorded quake to hit Japan came on March 11, 2011, when a magnitude-9.0 quake centered 231 miles (372 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo devastated the country.

That quake triggered a massive tsunami that swallowed entire communities in eastern Japan. It caused catastrophic meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Japan: Fukushima clean-up may take up to 40 years

The disaster killed about 22,000 people -- almost 20,000 from the initial quake and tsunami, and the rest from health conditions related to the disaster.

Jie said Thursday's quake gave him a new appreciation for life.

"This experience has helped me to treasure my family members and relatives even more, and not take what I have and the people who support me for granted."

CNN's David Williams, Richard Beltran and Greg Botelho contributed to this report.