{"id":373810,"date":"2026-07-29T18:44:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T13:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=373810"},"modified":"2026-07-29T18:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T13:14:28","slug":"death-toll-rises-to-18-following-7-1-quake-in-southwestern-japan-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/death-toll-rises-to-18-following-7-1-quake-in-southwestern-japan-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Death toll rises to 18 following 7.1 quake in southwestern Japan – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Soldiers and emergency employees combed through a badly damaged shopping center and collapsed houses searching for trapped survivors Wednesday after\u00a0a robust earthquake\u00a0that killed not less than 18 people, including a foreigner, in southwestern Japan.<\/p>\n

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier within the Kumamoto area on the southern most important island of Kyushu also left not less than 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the prefectural government said. The tally has been steadily growing, fanning fears it might proceed to rise.<\/p>\n

A number of the most serious damage was on the Aeon Mall shopping mall in Kashima city, which was bustling with 1000’s of individuals when the quake happened. The corporate said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking zone before a gas explosion happened in one other a part of the mall, where some people were still working.<\/p>\n

Fumika Ono was shopping at a mall along with her older sister when the bottom shook so fiercely she lost her balance and ducked. Children began screaming and goods scattered on the ground.<\/p>\n

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The 19-year-old was amongst the gang of shoppers who managed to flee safely.<\/p>\n

The sweltering weather heightened worries concerning the survivors as rescuers braved the warmth. It remained unclear how many individuals might still be missing.<\/p>\n

Within the Nuyamazu district, a pair of temple gates at a Sixteenth-century Buddhist temple collapsed. They’d just been repaired five years ago.<\/p>\n

Yuki Kiyozumi, deputy chief priest on the temple, recalled how she needed to crawl on the ground since the shaking was so violent. She had just returned home from a gathering and was about to feed her cat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even know if or how we are able to rebuild them again,\u201d she said, while cleansing up damaged ornaments and furniture.<\/p>\n

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A number of the most serious damage was on the Aeon Mall shopping mall in Kashima city, which was bustling with 1000’s of individuals when the quake happened. The corporate said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking zone before a gas explosion happened in one other a part of the mall, where some people were still working.<\/p>\n

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The mall\u2019s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Witnesses said the explosion shook the world as much because the quake.<\/p>\n

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Three people remained missing, while 4 deaths were confirmed on the mall site, in keeping with Aeon President Akio Yoshida.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take it seriously that an explosion happened and precious lives were lost,\u201d Yoshida told a news conference in Kumamoto, where he bowed deeply together with two other executives.<\/p>\n

Japanese media footage of the mall showed that a part of the ceiling had caved in, and metal pieces and other debris were scattered about as helmeted and masked rescue employees searched the world.<\/p>\n

Kiyoshi Matsunaga, 74, who lives within the mall\u2019s neighborhood and was at a supermarket just a couple of blocks away, said he thought he was going to die.<\/p>\n

He stopped in his tracks when the shaking began while he was pushing his cart toward a money register. Things scattered from the shelves. He couldn’t move, he recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to be frightened,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In nearby Yatsushino, a chimney collapse at a Nippon Paper Industries factory killed five people while seven others were rescued from the debris, in keeping with the Kumamoto prefectural government disaster team.<\/p>\n

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