Japan Still Searches for Survivors After Deadly Quakes

Recovery teams in southern Japan are still finding bodies buried beneath the rubble caused by last week's earthquakes.

Soldiers and other rescue workers use backhoes and shovels to search through dirt and debris as the threat looms of more landslides.

A magnitude-6.5 quake last Thursday night followed by a 7.3 quake early Saturday morning caused widespread damage. 

"The earthquake made a big rattling sound, said eyewitness Keiko Fujimoto. "There was a strong shaking which lasted a long time. We were eating dinner together as a church family. I heard people screaming, sound of glass breaking, and things falling. I was really, really taken by surprise."

The death toll in Japan has reached at least 48 people. Another 11 died from illnesses believed to be connected to the physical demands of evacuation. Three people remain missing. 

More than 1,000 people were injured during the quakes, and 200,000 were evacuated to shelters.

Still, in the midst of all the devastation, miracles are happening. 

"There is a church near the epicenter that has totally collapsed," said Pastor Yoji Nakamura of Kumamoto Harvest Church, which is also located in the quake zone. "The pastor there was buried in the rubble. He managed to escape on his own; but his daughter in her late 20's was buried in the rubble for about four hours. She was rescued, and I believe is in the hospital now. Her life was saved."

Operation Blessing Japan sent a two-ton truck from Sendai to Kumamoto Harvest Church. The truck will be used by the church to deliver huge amounts of aid for at least one month.

"The local church has become a hub for accepting donations but has no solution for getting those donations to the victims, so OB is stepping in to help deliver the supplies that last tactical mile," OBI Vice President of International Operations David Darg wrote in an email to CBN News.

Operation Blessing International purchased generators, water, food and hygiene items for the victims. 

The town of Mashiki was hit the hardest. 20 people lost their lives there. OB Japan delivered more than a ton of supplies to Mashiki. 

In addition, OB Japan took bottled water to an emergency shelter at a middle school in the quake zone. Darg says more than 100 vehicles were parked around the school, and many people who could not rest in the school gymnasium were staying in their cars.

Also, with so many aftershocks, some people are too afraid to stay indoors.

"Our team met Fumaki Tashiro, a local resident who had become the leader of the school shelter," Darg shared. "When we told him that we had come from Sendai, he was visibly moved."

The devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011 caused massive damage to Sendai and the Tohoku region.

"When the disaster happened in Tohoku, he told us that he and his construction worker friends got together and had driven to Tohoku to help out. He was immensely encouraged that now people from Tohoku were coming to help them," Darg said.