‘The shaking was terrifying’: stories of survival and loss emerge after Japan earthquake

Rescuers in southern Japan are pulling survivors from collapsed homes after a magnitude six point eight earthquake struck near Hikawa, a rural town close to the epicenter, The Guardian reports. Volunteer firefighter Tomohide Nagata described hearing a voice and spotting a hand inside one flattened house before colleagues freed the man, bleeding but alive. Numerous older houses in the hard-hit town gave way in the quake, and residents, wary of continuing aftershocks, spent the night in their cars outside town hall, where staff handed out food and drinks. Search teams are continuing to comb the rubble as the death toll from Tuesday's quake keeps rising.

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