July 28, 2026 — 10:06pm
A 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 from central Tokyo, and hit at an extremely shallow depth of 10 km, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
Prime 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.
