US to Join Quake Relief Effort in Japan; 41 Dead, 11 Missing

Eleven people remained missing Sunday in southern Japan from two powerful earthquakes that killed 41 people, as the U.S military announced it was preparing to join relief efforts and Toyota said it would suspend nearly all of its vehicle production in Japan.

A boy receives medical checkup at a shelter in Mashiki, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, on April 17, 2016. After two nights of earthquakes, flattened houses and triggered major landslides in southern Japan, 91,000 people had evacuated from their homes, according to a Kumamoto prefectural official. Yohei Nishimura/Kyodo News via AP

MINAMIASO, Japan—Eleven people remained missing Sunday in southern Japan from two powerful earthquakes that killed 41 people, as the U.S military announced it was preparing to join relief efforts and Toyota said it would suspend nearly all of its vehicle production in Japan.

Thousands of rescue workers fanned out in often mountainous terrain to search for the missing. Rescue helicopters could be seen going into and out of the area, much of which has been cut off by landslides and road and bridge damage.

With 180,000 people seeking shelter, some evacuees said that food distribution was a meager two rice balls for dinner.

Police officers conduct a search operation for missing persons after a landslide caused by earthquakes that buried houses in Minamiaso, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, on April 17, 2016. Two nights of increasingly terrifying earthquakes flattened houses and triggered major landslides in southern Japan. Yuki Sato/Kyodo News via AP