An aerial view shows rescue workers at the Nippon Paper Industries factory after an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture, in Yatsushiro City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, on July 29, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors on Wednesday (July 29, 2026) after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan.Also read: Japan earthquake updates on July 29, 2026The 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 centre in Kashima city, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened. The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before a gas explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working.The mall’s second floor collapsed, trapping people. Witnesses said the explosion shook the area as much as did the quake.Three people remained missing, while four deaths were confirmed at the mall site, according to Aeon.“We take it seriously that an explosion happened and precious lives were lost,” Aeon President Akio Yoshida told a news conference in Kumamoto, where he bowed deeply along with two other executives.
