By CBS News
A major earthquake in Japan’s southwest on Tuesday killed at least 13 people and left several injured or missing after a shopping center and a paper mill were heavily damaged, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
Public broadcaster NHK reported earlier that two victims were women in their 20s who were confirmed dead in a heavily damaged Aeon Mall shopping center in the city of Kashima in the hard-hit Kumamoto Prefecture. A third person was also found without vital signs, NHK said. The local fire department said that the second floor of the mall had collapsed.
An aerial view shows damage to the Aeon Mall in Kashima City, after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture, July 28, 2026.
NHK said the mall collapse followed an explosion that was likely caused by a gas leak.
Police in the city earlier told CBS News’ Japanese partner network TBS that there were “a lot of deaths” in the mall, but that it would “take time to confirm the exact number.”
There were at least 11 people trapped inside the Nippon Paper Industries Yatsushiro Plant in Kumamoto after a chimney collapsed during the quake, according to TBS, and two of them were later found without vital signs.
The quake that struck at 4:27 p.m. local time (2:27 a.m. ET) had a magnitude of 7.1, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, but reached the highest possible level of 7 on Japan’s Shindo scale of shaking. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake — one of hundreds that strike Japan every year — at 6.8. The vast majority cause little damage.
At least 50 people were taken to hospitals and local emergency services and at least six other people were rescued earlier, according to NHK. Their conditions are unknown.
Workers conduct search and rescue operations at Aeon Mall, which was seriously damaged by an earthquake on July 28, 2026, in Kashima, in Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture.
Takaichi said on social media she had established an emergency operations center. She warned that power outages and water shortages were occurring in the area, and raised concerns about heat-related emergencies. In recent days, Japan has faced temperatures of up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NHK.
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to all those affected by the disaster,” Takaichi said. “The government will work tirelessly through the night to swiftly assess the overall damage situation and carry out emergency disaster response measures, starting with the rescue and lifesaving of those affected.”
Video aired by NHK showed several blazes, damaged bridges, a derailed cargo train and cracked roads after the temblor struck at the far southern end of Japan’s main Kyushu island. NHK said at least 12 houses had collapsed, and the national Kyodo news agency said one person was killed in a damaged home.
The Japan Meteorological Agency initially issued an alert for a possible tsunami of up to 3 feet, but withdrew the warning after a couple of hours.
An aerial view shows fire crews spraying water into a building on fire in Kumamoto, Japan, after a powerful earthquake struck the area on July 28, 2026.
No immediate abnormalities were recorded at nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said.
About 45,000 households and facilities have no power in the Kumamoto region, according to local utility Kyushu Electric Power.
The firm added that three nuclear reactors operating in the region at the time were functioning normally.
The exterior wall of a shop is seen collapsed following a strong earthquake, in Kumamoto City, Japan, July 28, 2026.
A local NHK staffer wearing a helmet reported live on air that the shaking was continuing around half an hour after the quake, with the newsroom rocking so violently that it was difficult to remain standing.
“Shaking is continuing as I speak. Including myself, there may be some people who feel their hearts racing,” the staffer said.
“When the quake struck, the shaking was so big that I could not stand up. Please be aware of the possibility that shaking might continue after this.”
A map shows the epicenter of a major earthquake that hit southwest Japan’s Kumamoto region on July 28, 2026.
Kumamoto was hit by two devastating earthquakes in 2016 — one of magnitude 6.5, followed two days later by one of magnitude 7.3 — which killed 273 people and injured more than 2,800.
A quake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit northern Japan on June 25 but caused no deaths or major damage.
Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences hundreds of jolts every year and accounts for about 18% of the world’s earthquakes. The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below the Earth’s surface at which they strike.
Japan’s positioning on the “Ring of Fire” between the Philippine and Pacific plates leads to many earthquakes.
Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.
A tremor measuring 7.7 hit the country’s north on April 20 this year, injuring at least 10 people and shaking large buildings in Tokyo.
That prompted authorities to issue a special advisory warning of an increased risk of earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or stronger.
The advisory was lifted after a week.
Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/strong-earthquake-with-7-1-magnitude-strikes-southern-japan-tsunami-alert-issued/