The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck southern Japan has risen to 13, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed on Wednesday (July 29).
Prime Minister Takaichi stated that search and rescue operations continued through the night to locate missing individuals and remain actively underway. She added that alongside the fatalities, numerous people have been injured, and several others remain unaccounted for.
The magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Kumamoto region on Kyushu—the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands—on Tuesday afternoon (July 28).
The seismic activity caused a section of a local shopping mall to collapse, reportedly triggered by an initial gas leak. Additionally, a massive industrial chimney at a paper manufacturing plant collapsed during the tremors.
According to the local fire department, a second-floor section of the Aeon Mall in Kashima City collapsed, trapping several shoppers inside. Emergency rescue teams in Kumamoto also reported that individuals were trapped beneath debris after a chimney collapsed at the Yatsushiro plant operated by Nippon Paper Industries Co.
Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency announced that evacuation advisories have been issued for over 260,000 residents, primarily across Kumamoto Prefecture, as well as in neighboring Nagasaki Prefecture.
The earthquake-hit region lies approximately 900 kilometers (560 miles) southwest of the capital, Tokyo.
