Powerful earthquake hits Japan, injuring at least 50

Anton Bridge and Mariko KatsumuraJuly 28, 2026 — 10:06pmA 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday, knocking out power to thousands of homes, rupturing roads and leaving some trapped and others presumed dead inside a partially collapsed shopping mall.The tremor was centred around Kumamoto prefecture, about 900 km (560 miles) from central Tokyo, and hit at an extremely shallow depth of 10 km, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).Aerial image showing the damaged AEON Mall after an earthquake in Kashima, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan.APPrime Minister Sanae Takaichi told media she had received some initial reports of injuries, while public broadcaster NHK reported that at least 50 people had been hurt.Speaking to reporters at her office in Tokyo, Takaichi said authorities were still assessing the full extent of the damage in the area, which was devastated by a deadly quake 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,” she 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 help with the disaster recovery as aftershocks continued to rumble.The quake’s maximum seismic intensity was estimated at 7 on a Japanese scale of 7. Shaking of that intensity makes it impossible to stand, according to the JMA. An initial quake just before 4:30pm Japan time was followed by a series of aftershocks in the same region.One hospital had reported more than 50 injuries, public broadcaster NHK said. Several people on a high-speed train at the time of the quake were also injured, media reported.Multiple people were trapped inside an Aeon shopping mall rocked by an explosion that occurred after the earthquake, fire services said. Police said, “quite a few” were presumed dead in the incident, broadcaster TBS reported.An Aeon spokesperson said customers and employees were evacuated right 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.”Rail operator JR Kyushu stopped all its services, while Kumamoto airport’s runway was closed for safety checks, with no time set for re-opening. Power outages were reported at some 7-Eleven stores in Kumamoto, while NTT Docomo experienced disruptions to mobile services.No irregularities were reported at nuclear power facilities, chief cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara said.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing said it evacuated staff at its Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing facility. TSMC, the go-to chipmaker for Nvidia and Apple operates a factory in Kumamoto prefecture, with a second facility under construction.Sony Group produces image sensors in Kyushu that are used in smartphones, while Tokyo Electron makes chip tools and advanced packaging equipment in the region.A store sign of a restaurant is seen fallen on the ground after an earthquake in Kumamoto in the Kyushu island, southern Japan,undefined/Kyodo News via APAn aerial image shows part of a bridge that collapsed after the earthquake in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan.undefined/Kyodo News via APChip making in particular is highly sensitive to physical shocks or disruptions in power and processes, and minor hiccups can sometimes destroy whole batches of valuable product.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 per cent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or more.A tsunami warning was issued immediately after Tuesday’s quake, but was later lifted.Kyushu Electric Power said 48,000 homes had lost power as a result of the latest quake, while railway company JR Kyushu said that it had suspended services, including its high-speed bullet trains.A 6.5 magnitude earthquake in 2016 caused substantial damage to Kumamoto. Yusuke OgataA massive earthquake in Kumamoto 10 years ago killed 275 people and injured a further 2,739, according to an official count, and damaged thousands of buildings including the city’s castle, a top tourist site.Some portions of the stone walls at the castle also collapsed as a result of Tuesday’s quake, an official at the castle’s office said.Reuters, with Bloomberg Be the first to know when major news happens. 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