Rescue teams in southwestern Japan are racing against time to find survivors after a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto prefecture, with the death toll rising to 30. The quake, which hit on Tuesday, has left at least 62 people injured, according to the prefectural government.
Search operations continue at shopping centre and paper mill
About 170 rescue workers are searching the Aeon shopping centre in Kashima town, which was crowded with thousands of people when the quake occurred. The company reported that around 3,000 customers were evacuated to a car park before a gas explosion occurred in another part of the building. Of the 12 people pulled from the rubble, six have died. All those caught in the explosion were shop workers who had returned after the evacuation. Aeon's president bowed in apology at a press conference, stating the company failed to anticipate the explosion, which is under investigation.
Police and Self-Defence Forces (SDF) personnel are also searching for one worker at the Nippon Paper mill in Yatsushiro, where a chimney collapsed. Eight of the 10 trapped workers died, and two were injured. In the first reported death of a foreign national, a Vietnamese technical intern was killed when a crane fell on him at his workplace, according to the Vietnamese government.
Aftershocks and heat hamper rescue efforts
Almost 5,000 SDF personnel deployed to the region faced temperatures up to 35°C on Thursday, officials said. A 5.8-magnitude aftershock overnight further complicated rescue operations. Nearly 23,000 homes lost electricity, and 75,000 had no running water. About 15,000 people have been evacuated to 400 shelters.
Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the SDF is airlifting coolers to shelters and delivering water and food via vessels. “We’re doing everything possible to make saving lives a priority, making efforts to deliver life-saving supplies, beginning with water,” he said.
Extent of damage and infrastructure impact
The earthquake registered the maximum level 7 on Japan's shindo scale. “It was the strongest quake I have ever experienced,” said Kanzo Matsumoto, 73, a hot spring inn operator in Yatsushiro. The Geospatial Information Authority reported that parts of the ground shifted by 87cm during the quake.
Yatsushiro town hall sustained damage to its base-isolation system, an earthquake-resistant technology rebuilt after a deadly 2016 earthquake. Aerial footage showed several homes flattened, some collapsing into rivers.
Industrial shutdowns and economic impact
Kyushu is a key hub for Japan's automotive and semiconductor industries, accounting for about 20% of the region's industrial output. Toyota paused operations at three plants to assess the quake's impact on suppliers and logistics. Honda suspended operations at a motorcycle plant until Friday. Taiwan's TSMC resumed operations at its Kumamoto facility, while Sony, Renesas Electronics, and Tokyo Electron halted production. Analysts said the shutdowns appear largely precautionary.
Kumamoto was hit by two devastating earthquakes in 2016 that killed 273 people and injured over 2,800. Japan, home to about 125 million people, experiences hundreds of earthquakes annually and accounts for about 18% of the world's earthquakes.
