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VOA English Newscast: 2100 UTC, April 15 2016


In this image made from video and provided by Kumamoto Prefectural Police, eight-month-old baby Miku Nishimura is carried away after being rescued from her home, which collapsed in a magnitude-6.5 earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern
In this image made from video and provided by Kumamoto Prefectural Police, eight-month-old baby Miku Nishimura is carried away after being rescued from her home, which collapsed in a magnitude-6.5 earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern

From Washington, this is VOA News.

I’m David Byrd reporting.

For the second day in a row a strong earthquake has rattled Japan.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred near Kumamoto city at 1:25 a.m. local time Saturday.

Yuichrio Yoshikado has family in the town of Mashiki.

"It's as if all control was lost. I thought I was going to die and I couldn't' bear it any longer, so I grabbed onto the sides of the bathtub, but the water in the tub was about 70 percent filled and was waving…all the water splashed out of the tub."

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the western coast of Kyushu after Friday's quake but canceled it a short time later.

On Thursday, a 6.5-magnitude quake struck near the city on the island of Kyushu, about 1,300 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (center, in blue shirt) watches a jet take off from the USS John C. Stennis in the South China Sea (C.Babb/VOA)
US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter (center, in blue shirt) watches a jet take off from the USS John C. Stennis in the South China Sea (C.Babb/VOA)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter visited a U.S. warship sailing in the South China Sea Friday to emphasize the Obama administration’s commitment to security in that area.

Speaking to reporters on board of the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier, Carter said that the United States "intends to continue to play a role in keeping peace and stability in this region."

"What's new is not an American carrier in this region. What's new is the context of tension which exists, which we want to reduce."

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, and has aggressively carried out island-building and patrols in waters that are claimed by other countries.

For more on these stories visit our website.

This is VOA News

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Words in This Story

rattle –v. to shake

tsunami –n. a very large ocean wave usually caused by an undersea earthquake

emphasize –v. to place importance on something, to bring attention to something

stability –n. the quality of not being easily changed

entire –adj. whole, all of something

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