A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck near the heart of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, at 4:27 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The quake’s epicenter was located in Kumamoto prefecture, on the island’s western coast, at a shallow depth of roughly 6.2 miles. The agency registered the tremor at a 7 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, the highest possible reading. A tsunami warning issued in the immediate aftermath expired at 6:10 p.m., according to public broadcaster NHK.
Sasebo Naval Base, located 111 miles from Kumamoto city, felt the earthquake but reported no damage or injuries as a result, base spokesperson Aki Nichols said in an email roughly two hours after the quake struck. Base operations and services continued without disruption.
The meteorological agency noted the earthquake produced long-period ground motion, meaning the shaking could persist for several minutes. NHK reported Class 4 shaking in Kumamoto, a level intense enough that people are unable to move without crawling and furniture is likely to topple.
Read more about this topic: People are trapped after a mall floor collapsed in Japan’s earthquake. The cause still isn’t clear (with video)
An NHK report published shortly after the quake, at 4:28 p.m., indicated that a local fire agency in part of Kumamoto had received reports of a partial collapse at an Aeon Mall, with people trapped inside. Aerial footage published on NHK’s website showed a collapsed section of the mall’s roof with exposed structural framework.
The last earthquake of comparable magnitude to strike Japan occurred on January 1, 2024, on the Noto Peninsula on Honshu, the country’s largest island, an event that caused nearly 300 immediate casualties, according to media reports at the time.
