Rescuers Rush to Trapped Residents as Japan Quakes Kill 41

Residents cover their faces while taking shelter at a park after a powerful earthquake hit Kumamoto city, Japan, early Saturday, April 16, 2016. Powerful earthquakes a day apart shook southwestern Japan, as thousands of army troops and other rescuers on Saturday rushed to save scores of trapped residents before the weather turns bad. Naoya Osato/Kyodo News via AP

MASHIKI, Japan—Army troops and other rescuers rushed Saturday to try to reach scores of trapped residents after a pair of strong earthquakes in southwestern Japan killed at least 41 people, injured about 1,500 and left hundreds of thousands without electricity or water.

Rain was forecast to pound the area overnight, threatening to further complicate the relief operation and set off more mudslides in isolated rural towns, where people were waiting to be rescued from collapsed homes.

The aerial view shows a collapsed road after an earthquake in Minami-Aso, Kumamoto prefecture on April 16, 2016. STR/AFP/Getty Images