A powerful earthquake rocked Kumamoto Prefecture in the Kyushu region Tuesday, injuring scores and reportedly triggering an explosion that collapsed part of a shopping mall and left many people trapped.
The magnitude 7.1 quake registered up to a shindo 7, the highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, and prompted multiple strong aftershocks. Authorities urged residents to remain vigilant for continued large quakes.
Local officials told NHK that the second floor of an Aeon shopping mall in the town of Kashima appeared to have collapsed, leaving a large number of people trapped following earlier reports of an explosion and white smoke rising from the building. Many fatalities are expected as a result of the collapse, a Kumamoto police source said, according to local broadcaster RKK.
NHK, quoting police sources, later reported between 20 and 30 employees at the mall were unable to be contacted, while four people — all conscious — had been transported from the mall to hospital.
Some 200 people had reportedly earlier evacuated to the mall’s parking lot.
Video showed portions of the mall’s exterior apparently blown off and steel beams exposed.
Meanwhile, at least 50 people had been injured and transported to hospital in the town of Hikawa, while more than 50 others were hospitalized in the city of Kumamoto, with at least one person unconscious, NHK said, citing local authorities.
A damaged building in the city of Kumamoto following a massive earthquake on Tuesday afternoon. | JIJI
Footage showed several collapsed buildings near the epicenter. The fire department in the city of Uki reported to the broadcaster that it had received many emergency calls as numerous fires broke out in the city.
Highway overpasses on the Kyushu Expressway in Yatsushiro sustained significant damage and what appeared to be the pedestrian portion of a bridge collapsed in the same city.
Operations on the entire length of the Kyushu Shinkansen line were suspended due to the quake, JR Kyushu said, while numerous local train lines also halted operations. The West Kyushu Shinkansen line was operating with delays.
According to West Nippon Expressway, the quake also prompted closures of expressways, mainly in Kumamoto Prefecture.
Speaking to reporters, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged those in the quake-hit areas “to remain vigilant for the possibility of another earthquake of similar magnitude,” adding that injuries from the disaster were likely to emerge.
“While we are still confirming the extent of damage, we have been informed that there are already injured people,” she said earlier without disclosing a figure.
Later, Takaichi announced the establishment of an emergency disaster task force, which she will head, and said that 3,600 Self-Defense Forces members will be dispatched for disaster relief operations at the request of the Kumamoto governor.
“I’d like to extend our heartfelt condolences and our thoughts are with those affected by this disaster,” she said.
Smoke rises from a building in Uki, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Tuesday following a major earthquake. | Defense Ministry / via JIJI
“This is a very crucial moment and human lives come first.”
An official with the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) also urged people to remain on high alert for more earthquakes.
“Since there were strong quakes in this area in the past, which subsequently caused a series of strong temblors, please be on alert for up shindo 7 for around a week, especially for the next two to three days,” the official said during a news conference, referring to powerful quakes that struck the same area in 2016.
A quake with an epicenter over land at a shallow depth means seismic activity is active, which is likely to cause many aftershocks, he said.
The quake was caused after two faults slid horizontally in different directions, the official said. But he said it was too early to say whether the latest quake was related to the 2016 Kumamoto quakes. The epicenter of Tuesday’s quake was about 20 kilometers from the Hinagu fault zone, which caused the 2016 quake, the official said.
At a hastily organized news conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said that no abnormalities had been detected at the country’s nuclear power plants, including the Sendai facility in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture.
People sit in a plaza after a powerful quake in the city of Kumamoto on Tuesday. | JIJI
The weather agency initially issued a tsunami advisory for coastal areas of the Ariake and Yatsushiro seas, urging people to stay away from the coast. All tsunami advisories were lifted at 6:10 p.m.
The rare shindo 7 was observed in Hikawa and the city of Uki. At that level, people cannot stay standing and may be thrown into the air, while unsecured pieces of furniture are likely to topple over or be tossed up in the air. Reinforced concrete walls may collapse.
This is the first quake that registered shindo 7 since the earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula in January 2024.
A strong 6 on the shindo scale was observed in the cities of Yatsushiro, Uto and the towns of Mashiki and Misato, as well as the city of Kumamoto’s Minami Ward.
Shayne Bowden, 55, a researcher who resides in the area, was at the public library across from Kumamoto Station when the quake struck.
“I felt an initial jolt and then violent shaking, my laptop skidding across the desk back and forth,” he said.
The epicenter and seismic intensity of Tuesday's earthquake is shown on a weather agency map. | Japan Meteorological Agency
People quickly got under the desks in the library and staff were calm while instructing people to evacuate.
“It kept shaking and shaking,” he said.
The Japan Times reached him while he was outside in a park as helicopters whirred overhead.
“The front of the station is full of people,” he said. “The konbini are packed, and there’s a bit of panic-buying.”
Other cities in Kumamoto, as well as the neighboring prefectures of Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga and Miyazaki, also felt strong shaking of a lower 5 or stronger on the Japanese scale.
The quake’s epicenter was in the city of Uki, just south of the city of Kumamoto, at a depth of 10 kilometers.
Electricity was out for about 48,300 households in Kumamoto Prefecture, according to Kyushu Electric. The company is asking people not to touch severed electricity lines, and notify them of any abnormalities.
The outages come as Japan is in the throes of a scorching summer, raising the prospects of a compound disaster. The JMA is forecasting highs of 34 degrees Celsius in Kumamoto for Wednesday, with highs projected to reach the upper 30s later in the week.
“We need to take precautions against heatstroke such as portable coolers,” Takaichi said.
The quake comes just over 10 years after two separate earthquakes rocked the city of Kumamoto in April 2016, leaving 278 people dead and injuring another 2,800.
Kumamoto Castle sustained heavy damage in the quakes and restoration work is not due to be completed until fiscal 2052.
More information:
Detailed information about thelocation of the earthquake, from the Japan Meteorological Agency website
An explanation of shindo, Japan’s earthquake intensity scale
A guide to what to do before, during and after an earthquake
Our portal for disaster-related information
