日本震后救援行动仍在继续

 TOKYO—Strong aftershocks continued to rattle¹ Japan main's southern island of Kyushu on Sunday as rescuers confronted harsh weather in a race to rescue dozens of people believed still trapped under collapsed² buildings.

At least 41 people have died, six more have been reported missing and nearly 2,000 have been injured since Thursday as a result of the strongest tremors⁴. The quakes have collapsed buildings and bridges, triggered fires and landslides⁵, and even derailed a bullet train. Some small communities remain cut off, and officials say they therefore don't yet know the full scope of the tragedy.

More than 250,000 people have been either ordered to leave their homes or have left voluntarily because of damage or fears of further destructive tremors, according to officials in Kumamoto prefecture.

Quake Rescue Operations Continue Amid Japan Aftershocks

Tens of thousands of personnel are involved in the rescue-and-recovery effort, which is being hampered⁶ by heavy winds and rain.

"The Self Defense⁷ Force, police and firefighters have been working to rescue people, but there are still missing people. The government will further deploy⁸ all possible means by expanding the troop size to 25,000," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.

His government's emergency task force held a second meeting at the prime minister's office Sunday morning to discuss response measures amid increasing reports of shortages of essential supplies in the worst-hit communities.

The central government is making available 900,000 meals, a ton of baby formula and 60,000 diapers, according to Taro⁹ Kono, the Cabinet minister in charge of disaster response.

The Japan Meteorological Agency placed the magnitude of Saturday's largest quake at 7.3, which followed Thursday's 6.5 tremor³. Both were at shallow depths, onshore and located under populated areas.

Asked by VOA whether he concurred¹⁰ with JMA's assessment¹¹ that Thursday's shallow temblor was a foreshock to the stronger quake on Saturday, University of Tokyo professor of geophysics Robert Geller said, "Now I would. But if there is a M7.6, say, tomorrow, we'd have to revise that again. Highly unlikely, yes; completely impossible, no."

Geller added that the series of powerful quakes in Kumamoto prefecture was not uncommon¹². "For example, there was a magnitude 7.3 quake two days before the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku quake in 2011," he said.

An active volcano in the area, Mount Aso, also erupted for the first time in a month, although Japanese authorities said the small eruption¹³ was not linked to the quake.

Abe had planned to visit Kumamoto, 1,200 kilometers southwest of the capital, to survey the damage, but decided¹⁴ to avoid the area while aftershocks continue. More than 400 detectable¹⁵ tremors, located in or near the Beppu-Shimabara rift¹⁶ zone, have been reported since Thursday's earthquake.

The historic Aso Shrine¹⁷, more than 1,700 years old, suffered a great deal of damage. Part of a wall at the 400-year-old Kumamoto castle also collapsed.

More than 100,000 homes in Kumamoto prefecture remained without electricity Sunday, and water service has been disrupted to 422,000 households, according to the Japanese government, forcing residents to haul water from local offices to their homes.

There were no reported abnormalities at three nearby nuclear facilities, according to a government spokesman.

Operations at key manufacturing plants in the area, includin

1 rattle   

v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓

参考例句：

• The baby only shook the rattle and laughed and crowed.孩子只是摇着拨浪鼓，笑着叫着。
• She could hear the rattle of the teacups.她听见茶具叮当响。

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 tremor   

n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震

参考例句：

• There was a slight tremor in his voice.他的声音有点颤抖。
• A slight earth tremor was felt in California.加利福尼亚发生了轻微的地震。

4 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

5 landslides   

山崩( landslide的名词复数 )； （山坡、悬崖等的）崩塌； 滑坡； （竞选中）一方选票占压倒性多数

参考例句：

• Landslides have cut off many villages in remote areas. 滑坡使边远地区的许多村庄与外界隔绝。
• The storm caused landslides and flooding in Savona. 风暴致使萨沃纳发生塌方和洪灾。

6 hampered   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions. 恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• So thought every harassed, hampered, respectable boy in St. Petersburg. 圣彼德堡镇的那些受折磨、受拘束的体面孩子们个个都是这么想的。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

9 taro   

n.芋，芋头

参考例句：

• Main grain crop has taro,corn,banana to wait.主要粮食作物有芋头、玉米、芭蕉等。
• You celebrate your birthday with taro,red bean and butter.用红豆、芋头和黄油给自己过生日。

10 concurred   

同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。
• So many things concurred to give rise to the problem. 许多事情同时发生而导致了这一问题。

11 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

12 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

13 eruption   

n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作

参考例句：

• The temple was destroyed in the violent eruption of 1470 BC.庙宇在公元前1470年猛烈的火山爆发中摧毁了。
• The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 detectable   

adj.可发觉的；可查明的

参考例句：

• The noise is barely detectable by the human ear.人的耳朵几乎是察觉不到这种噪音的。
• The inflection point at this PH is barely detectable.在此PH值下，拐点不易发现。

16 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

17 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。