Japan's 7.1 quake leaves 50+ injured, several feared dead; tsunami warning lifted

A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Japan on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami warning, knocking out power to thousands of homes, damaging roads and buildings, and leaving multiple people trapped and others presumed dead inside a partially collapsed shopping mall in Kumamoto prefecture.

The quake struck at 4:27 pm (0727 GMT) off the island of Kyushu and registered the highest possible level seven on Japan's Shindo intensity scale, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The agency initially warned that tsunami waves of up to one metre (three feet) could reach coastal areas at around 5:00 pm (0800 GMT), but later lifted the tsunami warning.

The epicentre was about 20 kilometres (12 miles) south of Kumamoto, central Kyushu's largest city with a population of around 700,000.


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Speaking to reporters at her office in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said authorities were still assessing the full extent of the damage in the region, which was devastated by a deadly earthquake a decade ago.

"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."

Around 300,000 people have been instructed to go to evacuation centres, the disaster management agency said, while Takaichi said 3,600 soldiers would be deployed to assist with disaster recovery as aftershocks continued to rumble.

One hospital had reported more than 50 injuries, public broadcaster NHK said. Several passengers aboard a high-speed train at the time of the quake were also injured, according to media reports.

Multiple people were trapped inside an Aeon shopping mall after an explosion that occurred following the earthquake, fire services said. Police said "quite a few" people were presumed dead in the incident, broadcaster TBS reported.

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An Aeon spokesperson said customers and employees were evacuated immediately after the initial quake and that the exact cause of the ensuing explosion was unclear.

Kazuya Tsurunaga told TBS he heard the explosion while cleaning up dishes broken by the earthquake inside a pub about 300 metres from the Aeon mall.

"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."

Television footage from NHK showed several buildings on fire or partially collapsed, while large cracks appeared on major roads, including an elevated highway. Rail services were suspended, flights were grounded and Kumamoto airport shut its runway as airlines diverted and cancelled flights.

Kyushu Electric Power said 48,000 homes lost electricity following the earthquake, while railway operator JR Kyushu suspended services, including its high-speed bullet trains. Telecom operators KDDI and Docomo also reported disruptions to mobile phone services due to power shortages and transmission-line failures.

Major manufacturers temporarily halted operations as a precaution. TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, evacuated workers from its plant in the area, while Sony and Fujifilm also evacuated staff from nearby facilities, Nikkei newspaper reported.

The JMA warned residents in the worst-hit areas to remain alert for further strong earthquakes over the next week, as well as the risk of landslides.

Authorities said there were no irregularities at nuclear power stations in the affected region.

Japan is among the world's most seismically active countries, located atop four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire". The country, home to around 125 million people, experiences hundreds of earthquakes every year and accounts for roughly 18% of the world's seismic activity. Around 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or higher occur in or around Japan.

While most earthquakes in Japan are relatively mild, the extent of damage depends on factors such as the location of the epicentre and the depth of the quake.

The latest earthquake comes just over a month after a 7.2-magnitude quake struck northern Japan on June 25, causing no deaths or major damage. Earlier this year, on April 20, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, injuring at least 10 people and shaking high-rise buildings in Tokyo. The tremor prompted authorities to issue a special advisory warning of an increased risk of earthquakes measuring magnitude 8.0 or stronger, which was lifted after a week.

Japan also continues to bear the memory of the devastating 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left around 18,500 people dead or missing and caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Kumamoto itself was struck by a devastating earthquake 10 years ago that killed 275 people, injured 2,739 others and damaged thousands of buildings, including the city's historic castle. Officials said portions of the castle's stone walls also collapsed in Tuesday's earthquake.