UPDATE: 12:11 p.m. EST:
At least 19 houses have collapsed and victims are trapped inside, Japan’s National Police Agency told CNN.
Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital said it has admitted or treated 45 people, five of them with serious injuries.
“There was a ka-boom and the whole house shook violently sideways,” Takahiko Morita, a resident of Mashiki, a hard-hit town near the epicenter, told Japanese broadcaster NHK.
“Furniture and bookshelves fell down, and books were all over the floor,” said Morita.
Morita said some houses and walls collapsed in the area, and the water supply had been shut off.
UPDATE 11:21 a.m. EST:
Reports of up to 50 people injured, collapsed houses. Strong aftershocks have been recorded by Japan Meteorological Society.
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit southern Japan on April 14. There have also been reports of aftershocks.
