Rescue workers are using heavy equipment to dig through the debris from a landslide that buried houses and people in the small town of Atsuma on Japan's northern island prefecture of Hokkaido.
CNN reports that the landslide was triggered by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that shook the island Thursday. It killed at least nine people, collapsed houses and cut power to millions of homes.
It's the latest in a series of disasters that have hit the country. multiple deaths were caused by a severe typhoon, flooding, and heatwaves this summer. Experts say this could be the "new normal."
As many as 40,000 rescue workers, including 22,000 troops from Japan's Self Defense Forces, worked through the night in Atsuma Thursday to search for residents feared buried in the rubble.