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KUMAMOTO, JAPAN - APR. 16: A powerful magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck the island of Kyushu in southwestern Japan early Saturday, bringing the total number of fatalities since a strong temblor in the same region barely a day earlier to 41.Over 1,000 people were injured across Kyushu and about 90,000 people were evacuated to shelters in hardest-hit Kumamoto Prefecture. More than 1,700 houses were destroyed or partially damaged in Kumamoto, including over 1,400 in the village of Nishihara. The M7.3 quake struck Kumamoto at the depth of about 12 kilometers at 1:25 a.m. Saturday. It registered upper 6 on Japan's seismic scale of 7 and is believed to have been "the main quake," the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Earlier temblors, including the M6.5 quake on Thursday night, which registered a maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic scale in some area, are now considered foreshocks, it said. The magnitude of 7.3 matches that of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, which devastated the western port city of Kobe on Jan 17, 1995. A massive landslide occurred in the village of Minamiaso, Kumamoto, severing a major road nearby and collapsing the 200-meter-long Aso Ohashi bridge there, the local government said. A tunnel linking the village and the adjacent village of Nishihara also caved in. In Minamiaso, four apartment buildings near Tokai University's Aso Campus collapsed, killing two students, while around 500 evacuees at a gymnasium in the village were isolated after roads were cut off. The city hall in Uto also partially collapsed while the ceiling of the Kumamoto airport terminal building fell to the ground but no injuries have been reported. In Kumamoto, blackouts affected as many as 450,000 households and 380,000 homes were cut off from water supplies. Police officers and members of the Self-Defense Forces carried out search and rescue operations.