VLADIVOSTOK, Far East -- Rescue workers in Russia's Kuril Islands battled hurricane-force winds and rain Thursday to haul survivors from ruined homes and a military hospital wrecked this week by a powerful earthquake off Japan.


Dozens of aftershocks continued to rattle the islands, and rescue work was hampered by winds gusting up to 150 kilometers per hour, according to Vladimir Syusin, a top civil defense official on the island of Sakhalin to the north of the Kurils.


Rescue workers were feverishly trying to find and pull free seven people, including a 14-year-old girl, who were trapped in the ruins of a military hospital on the island of Iturup. A second hospital was destroyed on Kunashir, farther south.


"Voices have been heard in the rubble of the military hospital," Syusin said by telephone.


Also on Thursday, Japan said that it will consider positively any requests for aid to help the islands recover.


"There are diplomatic steps the Russians can take if they want to ask for aid, but they have not approached us so far," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobuo Ishihara told a news conference. "Japan will consider aid after requests."


But Moscow was clearly reluctant to allow Tokyo's involvement. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Demurin thanked Japan for the offer at a news conference but said a commission would first assess the devastation.


The Russian cabinet held an emergency meeting on the effects of the quake Wednesday, after which First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets said damage on the islands could total more than 100 billion rubles ($36 million), Kyodo said.


There were conflicting reports about casualties, and damage to power and telephone lines complicated the work of authorities trying to assess the disaster.


(Reuters, AP)