Astonishing Moment 8-month-old Girl is Pulled Alive from Collapsed Building (Photos+Video)

 

This astonishing footage shows the moment a eight-month-old girl is pulled alive from a collapsed building following a devastating earthquake in Japan.

 

The little girl was pulled out alive from the rubbles as rescue workers could not believe their eyes. She was then rushed into a waiting ambulance and taken to hospital. It was a moment of light relief for the country following the magnitude 6 tremor which killed at least nine people and injuring hundreds, local media said.

 

The tremor struck 7 miles east of the city of Kumamoto, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It said the magnitude was 6.2 but later revised it down.

 

 

 

There was no tsunami warning, but at least one person was killed after being crushed by a collapsing building, local media reported. More than 400 people were taken to hospital.

 

The Kyodo news agency said some 44,400 people had also been evacuated and more than 100 aftershocks had been recorded since the quake, which struck shortly before 9.30 pm local time.

 

Footage from public broadcaster NHK showed firefighters tackling a blaze in a building in Mashiki, a town of about 34,000 people near the epicentre of the quake.

 

"We will do our utmost and carry on with life-saving and rescue operations throughout the night," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.

 

Japanese media showed residents, some of them wrapped in blankets, huddling in parking lots and other open space for fear of further building collapses.

 

"The apartment building I live in is now tilting. Everything fell down inside. It's a mess," a male resident in Mashiki said on NHK.

 

 

The earthquake resulted in power outage as about 16,500 households in and around Mashiki were without electricity as of 2 a.m. (1700 GMT), according to Kyushu Electric Power Co Inc.

 

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, speaking in Washington, said the central bank as working closely with other authorities to avoid any disruption to banking operations. There has been no report of disruption to fund settlement systems so far, he said.

 

Honda Motor Co suspended output at its motorcycle factory near Kumamoto following the quake, a company spokesman said. Honda planned to inspect production equipment at the factory, which has an annual output capacity of 250,000 units, on Friday to see how soon production can be resumed.

 

Mitsubishi Electric Corp and tire maker Bridgestone Corp also suspended operations at their factories in the area, Kyodo news agency said.

 

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