Several dead in Japan after magnitude 7.1 earthquake causes blast at mall

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake has struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture, knocking out power to thousands of homes, rupturing roads and causing a blast at a shopping mall where police say several people are presumed to have been killed and others remain trapped, as authorities warned of a risk of strong aftershocks.

Around 20 to 30 workers were unaccounted for at the prefecture’s largest shopping mall, after it was rocked by an explosion in the aftermath of the earthquake on Tuesday afternoon, public broadcaster NHK said.

One hospital reported more than 50 injuries after the quakewhile another reported receiving around 40 wounded, including 10 in a serious condition, NHK said. Several more people were hurt when the tremors derailed a high-speed train.

A tsunami warning was initially issued but later lifted, and Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were found at three nearby nuclear power plants.

“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,” Prime Minister Sanae 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 hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to help with the disaster recovery ⁠as aftershocks continued to rumble.

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.

The worst incident appeared to be the explosion at an Aeon Mall in Kumamoto.

Kazuya Tsurunaga told broadcaster TBS he heard the explosion while cleaning up dishes broken by the earthquake inside a pub about 300 metres (980 feet) from the 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.”

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

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes. Located along the “Ring of Fire” of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more.

In a post on X, Prime Minister Takaichi urged those in the quake-hit areas “to remain vigilant for the possibility of another earthquake of similar magnitude”, adding that the government was working to assess the extent of damage “as quickly as possible”.

The Japan Times reported that cities in Kumamoto, as well as the neighbouring prefectures of Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga and Miyazaki, all felt strong shaking.

The earthquake’s epicentre was located in the city of Uki, about 20km (12 miles) south of the city of Kumamoto, at a depth of 10km (6.2 miles).

Companies, including Sony and TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, have plants in the quake’s path. TSMC said all personnel at its Kumamoto site have been confirmed safe, and post-earthquake structural inspections have been completed, while it continues to do an impact assessment report. Sony and Fujifilm, meanwhile, also evacuated staff from their plants in the area, the Nikkei newspaper reported.

Leading energy supplier Kyushu Electric Power said about 48,000 homes had lost electricity as a result of the earthquake, while railway company JR Kyushu said it had suspended services, including its high-speed bullet trains.

Two large earthquakes in Kumamoto 10 years ago killed 275 people and injured 2,739, according to an official count. Some portions of the stone walls at the already-under-repair Kumamoto Castle also collapsed as a result of Tuesday’s quake, an official at the castle’s office said.