A powerful earthquake shook southwest Japan on Tuesday July 28. It would have caused “a considerable number of deaths” after the collapse of a floor in a shopping center, reports the television channel TBS. The local police, for their part, indicated that they could not confirm at this stage possible victims in this shopping center in the Kumamoto department. Emergency services had previously reported “numerous people” trapped inside.
The earthquake caused several buildings to collapse and caused fires, while the tsunami warning issued after the tremor was lifted. The earthquake that occurred at 4:27 p.m. (local time) in the Kumamoto department, on the island of Kyushu, was of magnitude 7.1 according to the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA).
“We are still assessing the extent of the injuries and material damage,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in a televised speech. “Power outages and fires are occurring in some areas, roads and bridges have been damaged, and buildings have collapsed,” she added.
NHK television channel reported at least 50 people hospitalized after the earthquake and 12 homes collapsed near the town of Yatsushiro, in the center of Kumamoto department.
The JMA had initially issued a warning for a possible tsunami of up to one meter in height, but lifted the advisory around 6:10 p.m. “This earthquake occurred inland and no tsunami activity has been observed so far,” an agency spokesperson said.
Maximum intensity
The tremor, which violently shook the region, also reached the maximum level (7) on a separate scale used in Japan, which measures the force with which earthquakes are felt in a given place, said the JMA.
Television images showed partly destroyed road bridges, gutted buildings and overturned freight train carriages.
No immediate anomalies were noted at nuclear power plants in the region, according to the Japan Nuclear Regulatory Authority.
Some 45,000 homes and facilities are without electricity in the Kumamoto department, according to operator Kyushu Electric Power, which said that three nuclear reactors in the region continued to operate normally.
Deadly earthquakes
Kumamoto was hit in 2016 by two devastating earthquakes – one of magnitude 6.5, followed two days later by another of magnitude 7.3. They left 273 dead and more than 2,800 injured. A 7.2 magnitude earthquake also struck northern Japan on June 25, without killing anyone or causing significant damage.
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, located at the junction of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” The archipelago, which has around 125 million inhabitants, generally records several hundred tremors each year and represents around 18% of earthquakes recorded in the world.
The vast majority of them are of low intensity, even if the damage they cause varies depending on their location and the depth at which they occur below the earth’s surface.
The country remains marked by the gigantic 9.0 magnitude underwater earthquake that occurred in 2011, which triggered a tsunami leaving some 18,500 people dead or missing and caused the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
On April 20, a 7.7 magnitude tremor struck the north of the country, injuring at least ten people and shaking large buildings in Tokyo. Authorities then issued a special advisory warning of an increased risk of earthquakes of magnitude 8.0 or greater. This notice was lifted a week later.
