Sorry, your browser is unable to play this video.Please install Adobe Flash ™ and try again. Alternatively upgrade to a modern browser.
A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 has knocked over houses in southern Japan, and police said people could be trapped underneath the rubble.
The Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto hospital said it had admitted or treated 45 people on Thursday, including five with serious injuries. The quake struck at 9.26pm (12.26pm GMT) near Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu. There was no risk of a tsunami.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A shop clerk cleans broken wine bottles after the quake. Photograph: Jiji Press/AFP/Getty Images
“There was a kaboom and the whole house shook violently sideways,” Takahiko Morita, a resident of Mashiki, a town near the epicentre, said in a telephone interview with Japanese broadcaster NHK. “Furniture and bookshelves fell down, and books were all over the floor.”
Morita said some houses and walls collapsed in his neighbourhood, and water supply had been cut off.
Police in Kumamoto prefecture said they had received reports of a number of collapsed houses and people possibly trapped inside.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stone walls of Kumamoto castle collapse after earthquake. Photograph: AP
Mashiki is nine miles (15km) east of Kumamoto city, and about 800 miles (1,300km) south-west of Tokyo.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told a news conference that the damage was being assessed, but there were no abnormalities at nearby nuclear facilities. The epicentre was 74 miles (120km) north-east of the Sendai nuclear plant, the only one operating in the country.
TV footage showed Mashiki town hall in the dark, apparently having lost power. Other footage showed rubble on the road, shards of glass and broken windows, and fires breaking out in some places.
An official in nearby Uki city who was driving home when the quake struck said parts of the ceiling at Uki city hall had collapsed, windows broke and cabinets fell to the ground.
Kasumi Nakamura, an official in the village of Nishihara, said the rattling started modestly before becoming violent and lasted about 30 seconds. “Papers, files, flower vases and everything fell on the floor,” he told NHK.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Stranded people gather outside a town hall in Mashiki. Photograph: AP
There were multiple aftershocks, the largest one reaching a 5.7-magnitude about 40 minutes later, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The US Geological Survey measured the quake’s preliminary magnitude at 6.2 and said it was 14 miles (23km) deep. It said there was a low likelihood of casualties but some damage was possible.
Footage from an NHK bureau in the area showed books, files and papers raining down to the floor. One employee appeared to have fallen off a chair, while others slid under their desks to protect their heads.
Mapa de intensidades sísmicas para el primer terremoto de las 15:03 UTC 
Dos terremotos de más de 6 grados sacudieron Japón el mismo día. El primer terremoto de 6,2 grados ocurrió a las 21:26 hora local (12:26 UTC) y el segundo de 6 grados ocurrió a las 0:03 hora local (15:03 UTC). No se emitió alerta de tsunami.

Los terremotos ocurrieron en la isla de Kyūshū a 8,3 kilómetros al noroeste de Kumamoto. El siniestro dejó al menos a 2 muertos, 49 heridos y más de 19 casas colapsadas. Las autoridades de Kumamoto reportaron que 154 personas fueron hospitalizadas.