A powerful earthquake struck Japan's southwestern Kyushu island on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 13 people, injuring hundreds, and leaving tens of thousands without power and water. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) recorded the quake at magnitude 7.1 — the same level measured in the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake — while the US Geological Survey revised its estimate to 6.8. It hit at 4:27 pm local time with its epicentre roughly 20 kilometres south of Kumamoto city, a regional hub of around 700,000 people, at a shallow depth of approximately 16 kilometres. A tsunami warning was issued immediately after the quake but lifted within two hours. By Wednesday morning, more than 60 aftershocks had been recorded.

The most dramatic single incident occurred at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto, a large shopping centre in Kashima-machi, Kumamoto prefecture, which was home to around 200 shops and a cinema and had only been fully renovated and reopened in June 2026. Shortly after the earthquake, an explosion — believed to have been triggered by a gas leak from a restaurant — tore through the building, destroying part of its upper floors and exposing the steel frame. Staff had evacuated roughly 200 customers before the blast, but workers were left trapped inside. By midday Wednesday, three women had been confirmed dead at the site, five people were injured, and nine remained missing. At Nippon Paper Industries' Yatsushiro plant, also in Kumamoto prefecture, a chimney collapsed, leaving two workers in cardiac arrest and nine others unaccounted for. The Japanese Self-Defence Forces, which initially deployed 3,600 personnel, expanded the relief operation to 4,600 troops, with 170 assigned specifically to the mall rescue. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described the situation as