At least two people, including a child, were killed on June 18, after a strong quake rocked the second city of Osaka during the morning rush hour, Japan’s government said. / AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS / STR / Japan OUT
(Eagle News) — The Department of Foreign Affairs has expressed its condolences to Japan following two strong quakes that rocked western Japan which killed three persons and injured more than 200 persons.
The DFA said it had not yet received reports of any Filipino casualty in the strong quakes that were recorded, the strongest of which happened early morning on Monday, with recorded magnitudes of 4.5 (12:43 am Japan time) and 5.3 which occurred at around 8 am. Japan time (7 a.m. Philippine time).
There are 16,295 members of the Filipino Community in the Kansai Region, which was in the immediate epicenter of the earthquake.
“We express our condolences to the Government of Japan over the loss of lives in this morning’s earthquake in the Kansai Region,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.
“We hope and pray that loss of lives and damage to property would be minimal,” he added.
The DFA reported the Philippine Consulate General in Osaka had already advised members of the Filipino Community in the prefectures of Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, and Shiga to be on alert for aftershocks. It also advised Filipinos in Japan to avoid unnecessary travel as aftershocks are still expected after the strong quake.
The Consulate General has also advised the Filipino Community to continue monitoring disaster-related information and heed the calls of authorities in their respective areas.
In her report to Cayetano, Consul General Maria Aileen Bugarin said all Consulate personnel were safe and accounted for. She also said there are no reports of casualties among members of the Filipino Community.
Consul General Bugarin said Japanese authorities are still assessing the damage caused by the tremor, which happened around 8:00 am, when commuter train platforms would have been heaving with passengers waiting to board their commuter trains.
She said that safety checks were being conducted in the building where the consulate is located.
-3 dead, more than 200 injured in Japan quake –
The powerful quake rocked Japan’s second city of Osaka on Monday, killing three people including a nine-year-old girl and injuring more than 200, according to an official tally.
Television images showed buildings swaying and burst pipes spewing water after the quake, which struck at the height of rush hour in the city of around two million.
However, there was no large-scale destruction and no tsunami warning issued after the earthquake, although commuters were stranded and tens of thousands were left without power.
Among the casualties was a nine-year-old girl who died in the city of Takatsuki north of Osaka, reportedly trapped by a collapsed wall following the 5.3-magnitude quake.
Local media said the other two dead were an 80-year-old man — killed by a collapsing wall — and a man trapped under a bookcase in his home.
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said more than 200 people were injured.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters the government was “working united, with its first priority on saving people’s lives”.
And government spokesman Yoshihide Suga cautioned there was a possibility of strong aftershocks.
“Large-scale quakes are likely to happen in the next two to three days,” he told reporters.
Japan sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where many of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are recorded.
On March 11, 2011, a devastating magnitude 9.0 quake struck under the Pacific Ocean, and the resulting tsunami caused widespread damage and claimed thousands of lives.
It also sent three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant, causing Japan’s worst postwar disaster and the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. (with a report from Agence France Presse)
