Japan earthquake death toll hits 18 as teams race to find people missing in damaged mall and paper factory

Updated on: July 29, 2026 / 6:00 AM EDT

/ CBS/AP

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Kumamoto, Japan — Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan. The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu, also left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the prefectural government said. The tally has been steadily growing, fanning fears it may continue to rise. The sweltering weather heightened worries about the survivors as rescuers braved the heat. It remained unclear how many people might still be missing. Some of the most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping center in Kashima city, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened.

Journalists gather outside the damaged Aeon Mall Kumamoto, in Kashima, Japan, July 29, 2026, after an earthquake struck southwest Japan the previous day.