Heartbreaking: At Least 13 People Confirmed D3:ad, Buildings Collapsed, and Tens of Thousands Left Without Power After a Devastating Disaster in Japan
At least 13 people have been confirmed dead after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook Kumamoto on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, causing a shopping centre and other buildings to collapse.
Many still remained missing after soldiers and emergency workers combed through debris on Wednesday.
A firefighter searches for missing people at Aeon Mall Kumamoto which was damaged by an explosion. Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images
Officials said the Tuesday afternoon earthquake caused damage and injuries and a tsunami advisory was temporarily issued but was lifted within two hours.
One hospital reported more than 50 injuries and several people on a high-speed train at the time of the quake were injured, according to separate reports from public broadcaster NHK and the Nikkei newspaper.
The quake collapsed the second floor of the Aeon Mall in the town of Kashima, trapping an unknown number of people there, according to the fire department in the prefectural capital of Kumamoto.
The collapse followed an explosion suspected to have been caused by a gas leak.
Four people were pulled from the shopping centre with injuries and taken to a hospital, while 10 others were unaccounted for, the Kumamoto prefectural emergency response team said.
An AEON spokesperson said customers and employees were evacuated right after the initial quake and that the exact cause of the ensuing explosion was unclear.
Kazuya Tsurunaga told broadcaster TBS he heard the explosion while cleaning up dishes broken by the earthquake inside a pub about 300 metres from the shopping centre.
“It was a huge impact,” he said.
“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.”
At the Nippon Paper Industries Co’s Yatsushiro factory, where a chimney collapsed and the building was damaged, seven people were still feared trapped under debris on Wednesday, while two survivors and two bodies were recovered.
Two of them were later found without vital signs, while the conditions of nine others were unknown, the team said.
Part of the stone wall of the Kumamoto Castle was damaged after an earthquake in Kumamoto, undefined/Kyodo News via AP
Several other buildings were also on fire or partially collapsed, according to footage from NHK, while large cracks appeared on major roads, including an elevated highway. Rail services were halted and flights grounded.
Stone walls were also damaged at Kumamoto Castle, a major tourist destination still undergoing repairs from a previous earthquake.
Chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara confirmed that roughly 36,900 homes were without power and 9,500 were without gas.
More than 9000 residents moved to over 500 shelters, where power supplies were being installed for air conditioning as temperatures were forecast to exceed 32 degrees.
Speaking to reporters at her office in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the number of casualties and extent of the damage in the area – which was devastated by a tremor a decade ago – were still being assessed.
“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,” Takaichi said.
“I ask everyone to take action to protect themselves, including evacuating to a safe location.”
An Aeon spokesperson said customers and employees were evacuated right after the initial quake and that the exact cause of the ensuing explosion was unclear. undefined/Kyodo News via AP
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, evacuated workers from its plant in the area as a precaution, a spokesperson for the firm said.
Sony and Fujifilm also evacuated staff from plants in the area, Nikkei newspaper reported. A Sony spokesperson earlier said it was checking the situation.
About 300,000 people were told to go to evacuation centres, the disaster management agency said.
The quake’s epicentre was about 20 kilometres south of Kumamoto, central Kyushu island’s largest city with a population of about 700,000.
A store sign of a restaurant is seen fallen on the ground after an earthquake in Kumamoto in the Kyushu island, southern Japan, undefined/Kyodo News via AP
The US Geological Survey initially said the earthquake — which struck at 4.47pm (5.47pm AEST) — had a magnitude of 7.1, but revised it later to 6.8.
Shinji Kiyomoto, JMA’s Earthquake and Tsunami Countermeasures planning officer, told a news conference that the shallow earthquake was triggering active seismic activity in the area, urging residents to especially be cautious over the next two to three days for another big quake.
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He said, however, that no tsunami was observed from the inland quake.
Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said there were no reports of damage to major public facilities and infrastructure in the region, though authorities were still assessing the extent of damage from the quake. Local fire departments received many emergency calls.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were found at three nearby nuclear power plants.
Shinkansen bullet trains and local trains in Kyushu have been suspended for safety checks, while the runway at the Aso Kumamoto Airport was closed, with “no prospect of resuming operations”, according to a notice on the airport’s website.
Shinkansen bullet trains and local trains in Kyushu remained suspended on Wednesday for safety checks.
It’s understood that some flights at Aso Kumamoto Airport have resumed.
The Japanese Defence Ministry said it dispatched aircraft to the area to assess the situation.
Kumamoto was hit with a deadly quake in 2016 that left more than 50 people dead, 1800 injured and tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
Residents in the areas that felt the biggest tremors must beware of further strong quakes for about a week, as well as the risk of landslides, an official for the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
SOURCE: 9 NEWS
https://www.nine.com.au/world-news/asia/powerful-earthquake-japan-kumamoto-kyushu-20260728-p60je9.html
