Japanese Rescue Teams Search for Survivors Trapped in Rubble After 7.1 Magnitude Earthquake
A devastating earthquake that damaged a shopping centre and a factory in Japan has killed at least 13 people. Rescue teams are now working hard to find victims feared still trapped in the rubble.
The magnitude 7.1 (M) quake shook the area south-west of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu on Tuesday afternoon (28/7), causing extensive damage, triggering fires, and leaving tens of thousands of homes without electricity.
“Thirteen people have died,” said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a day after the earthquake, which registered at the highest level of Japan’s Shindo seismic intensity scale.
“Extensive damage has been confirmed, including fatalities, collapsed buildings, fires, and damage to roads,” Takaichi told reporters, as reported by the AFP news agency on Wednesday (29/7/2026).
The fatalities on Kyushu island included two women at a shopping centre and three others elsewhere, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, speaking to AFP earlier. Seven people sustained serious injuries.
The Aeon Mall shopping centre in the city of Kashima apparently collapsed due to a gas explosion, according to a government source cited by the Kyodo news agency, which caused the ceiling and walls to cave in.
“The explosion occurred after customers and staff had been evacuated,” a spokesperson for the Aeon Mall operator told AFP.
Eight people were rescued from the shopping centre, five of whom sustained injuries.
Initial reports suggested that as many as 20 to 30 people were trapped inside the collapsed mall building. However, the NHK television station, citing a police statement on Wednesday morning, said that the number was “lower than that”.
“The exact number is not yet known. What is certain is that staff members are trapped, but it is not clear whether any members of the public are among them,” the police said, as quoted by NHK.
They added that no safe access route to the facility had yet been found, which meant it was not yet possible to enter the site.
At the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro, where the damage included a partially collapsed chimney, the local government said that nine people were missing.
The powerful earthquake struck at 16:27 (0727 GMT) on Tuesday. The quake triggered several fires, collapsed buildings, damaged bridges — including part of a footpath that crumbled into a river — and overturned a freight train.