Social networks provide comfort

People trapped under buildings that collapsed in Japan's double earthquakes used social media to chat to friends and keep their spirits up while they awaited rescue, reports said on Sunday.

Networking apps like Line and Facebook proved a boon to victims of the powerful quakes that brought down homes, bridges and hillsides - but they were also conduits for rumours about escaped zoo animals.

One family of seven found themselves buried under debris after a 7.0-magnitude quake felled their home, barely 24 hours after the first major tremor had rocked southern Kumamoto prefecture.