2 dead as mall collapses in powerful quake that struck Japan's Kumamoto; intensity-7 aftershock possible

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan's Kyushu region has left multiple people dead and injured, with a shopping mall collapse and damage to industrial facilities among the causes. Two women in their 20s died at a major shopping mall, and experts warned that a fault that did not fully rupture during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes may have shifted again — with shaking of up to seismic intensity 7 possible for up to a week.

Eight people were rescued from the Aeon Mall in Kashima-machi, Kumamoto Prefecture, at around 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to NHK and Kyodo News.

Two women in their 20s were confirmed dead, and one person was transported to hospital in cardiac arrest. The remaining five were reported to be in non-life-threatening condition.

An explosion was heard at the mall on Tuesday around 6 p.m., after which part of the roof and walls collapsed, raising fears of mass casualties and prompting an overnight rescue operation. Darkness and the risk of further collapse hampered active rescue efforts.

The magnitude-7.1 quake — as measured by the Japan Meteorological Agency — struck near Uki city in Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday at around 4:27 p.m. About 200 visitors evacuated the mall before the explosion occurred. However, local media reported that a number of staff members may have returned to their posts after guiding customers to safety.

A senior Japanese government official told the Yomiuri Shimbun that a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) leak may have caused the explosion.

The quake's destruction extended to industrial sites. At a Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro city, a chimney partially collapsed, leaving two workers rescued in cardiac arrest and nine employees unaccounted for.

Kumamoto prefectural police said 12 cases of house collapses had been reported in the prefecture, along with four reports of residents unable to leave their homes due to damaged exits.

About 48,000 households in Kumamoto Prefecture lost power following the quake, and approximately 140,000 households experienced water outages. Some hospitals were reported to be struggling to treat the injured due to the power cuts.

Emergency safety alerts were issued for 92,743 residents across 46,610 households in the area. According to Jiji Press, 466 evacuation shelters were opened across 36 local governments, with 4,744 people taking refuge.

Extreme heat is forecast across Kumamoto Prefecture on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching up to 33 degrees Celsius in Yatsushiro city, raising concerns that conditions will further hamper rescue and recovery operations.

The region had long been identified as high-risk for a major earthquake. The Japan Meteorological Agency urged the public to remain on Alert for the possibility of further large quakes.

Shinji Kiyomoto, the agency's planning official for earthquake and tsunami countermeasures, told an emergency news conference Wednesday evening that two intensity-7 earthquakes had struck the same area during the 2016 Kumamoto quakes. "This region has a history of major earthquakes occurring in succession," he said. "Please remain cautious about shaking of up to seismic intensity 7 for the next week."

It is the first time seismic intensity 7 has been recorded in Japan since the Noto Peninsula earthquake of January 2024, which killed more than 700 people. Kumamoto was also struck in April 2016 by two earthquakes — magnitude 6.5 and magnitude 7.3 — within 28 hours of each other, killing more than 270 people in quake-related disasters.

The Japan Meteorological Agency classified the latest quake as a strike-slip earthquake, in which a land fault shifts horizontally — the same type as the 2016 event. It struck near the Hinagu fault zone, which caused the 2016 earthquakes, with an epicenter about 20 kilometers from that of the earlier quakes, though at a relatively shallow depth.

Aitaro Kato, a professor at the University of Tokyo, said the quake may have been triggered by movement along a fault segment that was not fully ruptured during the 2016 earthquakes.