A powerful earthquake has struck Japan’s Kyushu island, causing widespread damage, power cuts, and leaving multiple people missing or injured. The quake hit Kumamoto prefecture at 16:27 local time (07:27 GMT) on Tuesday, with the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) initially reporting a magnitude of 7.1, though the US Geological Survey later measured it as 6.8, a figure often updated as more data becomes available.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been told to move to evacuation shelters following the tremor. The disaster has left more than 40,000 households without power, according to an update on Kyushu Electric’s website.
One of the most significant incidents occurred at an Aeon shopping centre in Kumamoto city, where people remain trapped. Ten people are unaccounted for at the mall, a disaster management official told the BBC, while four others have been rescued and their lives are “not in danger”. A witness reported seeing an explosion and smoke at the shopping centre after the quake, with the second floor of the building collapsing and some shoppers taken to hospital. Japan’s fire and disaster management agency later confirmed that the second floor of a “commercial facility” had collapsed, with many people trapped inside.
Elsewhere in Kumamoto prefecture, a chimney reportedly collapsed at Nippon Paper’s Yatsushiro Plant, according to police cited by NHK. A disaster management official told the BBC that two people at the plant had been found in a state of “cardiac arrest” and nine people are still missing. In total, nineteen people are missing at the Aeon shopping centre and the paper factory combined.
The earthquake also caused historic walls at the 17th-century Kumamoto castle to tumble, adding to damage the castle sustained during a 7.3 magnitude quake in 2016. A footbridge also collapsed in the region, though it is unclear if anyone was injured or when the collapse took place, with traffic appearing to travel on a parallel bridge. Roads have also sustained damage.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has reported more than 60 aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from 1 to 4. The Kumamoto prefecture is no stranger to seismic activity, with a total of 278 people killed by powerful quakes in the region and neighbouring Oita prefectures in 2016.
