(UPDATE: April 15, 4:50 PM PST) A second earthquake of 7.0-magnitude hit Kyushu island in Japan, a day after the 6.2-magnitude quake. One person was killed and about 60 are trapped under rubble, according to most recent reports.
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An earthquake struck southern Japan on Thursday, killing at least 9 people and injuring over 700, according to the government's chief spokesman.
Over 1,000 soldiers had been deployed, according to the Associated Press, citing the government's chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga. About 16,000 homes were without electricity and over a hundred people have been hospitalized, according to officials and reports.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the magnitude-6.2 quake struck near Kumamoto city on the at 9:26 pm local time.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that aftershocks should be expected over the next several days.
The quake is reported to have been 11 kilometers (7 miles) deep with no Tsunami risk, unlike the earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan in March 2011 that killed 16,000 people and leave 2,500 people missing to this day.
The earthquake is the first to be reported with an intensity level of 7 on the Japanese seismic scale since 2011.
