At least 13 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful earthquake struck the southern Kumamoto prefecture in Japan yesterday, July 28, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said today, as rescue crews continued searching a collapsed shopping mall and a paper factory for people still missing.
The Kumamoto earthquake struck the Kyushu region at around 4.27pm yesterday. Japan’s Meteorological Agency recorded the quake at magnitude 7.1 and said it reached the maximum level of seven on the country’s shindo intensity scale, while the US Geological Survey initially reported 7.1 before revising its estimate down to 6.8.
Death and injury tallies also shifted through the day. Early wire reports citing Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency put the toll at three dead and about 30 injured in Kagoshima prefecture, while separate hospital figures reported more than 90 people treated for injuries in Kumamoto.
By this morning, Takaichi’s office said the confirmed death toll across the affected region had risen to 13, with more than 350 people treated at local hospitals.
Mall explosion
The worst incident occurred at Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima, Uki City, Kumamoto prefecture, where an explosion tore away part of the building shortly after the earthquake. Two women in their twenties were confirmed dead, and another person reportedly suffered cardiac arrest, according to local media reports.
Fire officials in Kumamoto city said the blast collapsed the mall’s second floor, trapping an unknown number of people inside. NHK reported the explosion followed a suspected gas leak, though the cause remains under investigation.
A spokesperson for mall operator Aeon said customers and employees had been evacuated after the initial quake, and that the cause of the subsequent blast was still unclear.
Around 20 to 30 workers were initially unaccounted for at the mall, NHK said. Emergency crews pulled four people from the site with injuries in the hours after the quake, while ten others remained unaccounted for, the Kumamoto prefectural emergency response team said.
Overnight rescue operations later freed eight more people from the mall, the prefectural government reported early today; one of those rescued was in cardiopulmonary arrest, while five others suffered injuries not considered life-threatening.
Kazuya Tsurunaga, who was clearing up dishes broken by the quake inside a pub about 300 metres from the mall, told broadcaster TBS he heard the explosion and saw a large cloud of smoke drift towards his building.
“It was a huge impact… A large cloud of smoke billowed up, and because the wind happened to be blowing and the wind direction was towards the shop, the area around us was in a state like volcanic ash was falling.”
Factory collapse and evacuations
Separately, at Nippon Paper Industries’ Yatsushiro Mill, a factory chimney collapsed and trapped workers underneath debris. Two employees were found in cardiac arrest and taken to hospital, while nine others remained missing, the Kumamoto emergency team said.
About 300,000 people were instructed to move to evacuation centres as aftershocks continued across Kyushu, the disaster management agency said. Kyushu Electric Power reported that close to 50,000 households lost electricity, while nearly 140,000 homes were left without water.
Roads and bridges were damaged across the region, including large cracks on an elevated highway, and stone walls at Kumamoto Castle, a tourist site already under repair following an earlier earthquake, were also damaged.
Temperatures in the area were forecast to top 30 degrees Celsius, with high humidity raising the risk of heatstroke for residents without power or water. Many people slept in their cars overnight out of fear of aftershocks.
Transport and communications disrupted
JR Kyushu suspended rail services, including its Shinkansen bullet trains, for safety checks, while Kumamoto Airport closed its runway, forcing airlines to cancel or divert flights. A train also derailed at Yatsushiro station, and passengers aboard a high-speed train were injured during the earthquake.
Delivery firm Yamato Transport also suspended services in and out of Kumamoto, according to the Nikkei business daily.
Telecoms operators KDDI and NTT Docomo reported disruption to mobile phone services due to power shortages and transmission line failures.
Government and international response
PM Takaichi said her government was still assessing the scale of the damage.
“We have already been informed that people have been injured. Power outages and fires have occurred in some areas, and there has also been damage to roads and bridges and the collapse of buildings,
“I ask everyone to take action to protect themselves, including evacuating to a safe location.”
The Japanese Defence Ministry said it had mobilised 3,600 personnel for disaster relief and dispatched 20 aircraft to assess the damage from the air. Hundreds of first responders from neighbouring prefectures arrived in the affected areas on the evening of the quake.
The deputy spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres extended sympathy to those affected.
“Our hearts go out to the people affected by this earthquake… The national authorities are leading the response, but we stand ready to support if needed.”
Hospitals under strain
A hospital employee in the region told NHK that patients were arriving with burns and fractures from being trapped under objects, and that ambulances were continuously bringing in the injured. The same report said some hospitals were also affected by power and water outages and damage to medical equipment.
Chiharu Hara, a 35 year old recruitment agent in Kumamoto, told AFP she was frightened when the quake struck. “The office swayed violently side to side. I was afraid it would collapse. Everyone panicked,” she said.
Aftershocks and warnings
By this morning, more than 60 aftershocks had been recorded, ranging in magnitude from one to four, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. A stronger aftershock, measuring 6.1, was recorded at 5.08pm yesterday. The agency’s Shinji Kiyomoto urged residents to remain cautious over the next two to three days, and officials also warned of possible landslides.
A tsunami advisory for the Ariake and Yatsushiro seas off Kumamoto’s western coast was issued shortly after the quake but lifted within two hours.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority reported no abnormalities at three nearby nuclear power plants.
Industry disruption
Several major manufacturers evacuated staff or suspended operations as a precaution. Toyota said it suspended operations at three of its Kyushu factories, with plans to reopen today, adding there were no reports of injuries or damage to its plants.
Semiconductor equipment maker Tokyo Electron suspended work at two Kumamoto factories through today, while Honda temporarily halted production at its motorcycle plant in the prefecture.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said all personnel at its Kumamoto site had been confirmed safe and that structural inspections had been completed, while it continued to carry out an impact assessment. Sony and Fujifilm also evacuated workers from their plants in the area, the Nikkei newspaper reported.
Japan lies along the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences about 20% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude six or higher, with tremors occurring somewhere in the country roughly every five minutes.
*This is a developing story, and figures may be revised as officials continue assessing the damage.
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