国际英语资讯:4 dead, hundreds injured as 6.1-magnitude quake rocks western Japan_时事

国际英语资讯:4 dead, hundreds injured as 6.1-magnitude quake rocks western Japan

TOKYO, June 18 -- At least four people have been confirmed dead and 350 others have been injured after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck Osaka prefecture in western Japan on Monday.

According to local authorities, in Takatsuki City, Osaka Prefecture, a 9-year-old girl was killed on her way to school when an outer wall at her school's swimming pool collapsed and a man in his 80s was confirmed dead after his house in the city of Osaka was leveled.

国际英语资讯:4 dead, hundreds injured as 6.1-magnitude quake rocks western Japan1

Police and local district headquarters also said that another man in his 80s in the city of Ibaraki was seriously injured after being trapped under a bookshelf and was later pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital.

An 81-year-old woman from Takatsuki was also confirmed dead after a cupboard collapsed on her, local media reported Monday evening.

According to public broadcaster NHK, while local authorities have suggested the death toll is likely to rise, at least 350 people have been injured across multiple prefectures in western Japan as result of the quake.

Japan's Disaster Management Minister Hachiro Okonogi said people were buried under the rubble of a collapsed building in Osaka while local rescue officials tried to rapidly locate them.

Firefighters grappled to extinguish multiple blazes across Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto and Mie prefectures, according to local authorities.

As well as numerous outbreaks of fires and burst pipes flooding roads, at least 70 people were believed to be trapped inside elevators at one point in Osaka and nearby areas, local rescue officials said.