(WS News) – The death toll from a powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture has risen to 34, as rescue crews race to reach survivors before the critical 72-hour window for finding people alive in the rubble closes.
The quake struck the southern island of Kyushu on Tuesday afternoon local time, followed by a series of aftershocks that further complicated rescue efforts in the region. Kumamoto Prefectural authorities said the confirmed toll includes deaths where officials are still working to establish a direct connection to the earthquake, and the number of missing remains unclear as search operations continue.
The most catastrophic single incident occurred at the Aeon Mall shopping center in the town of Kashima, which was crowded with an estimated 3,000 customers when the quake hit. Roughly 80 minutes later, an explosion tore through another part of the mall, causing a section of the second floor to collapse and trapping workers and shoppers inside. Authorities said at least seven people died in the mall explosion, which Aeon’s president said may have been caused by a gas leak, though the exact cause remains under investigation.
A second major incident unfolded at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in the city of Yatsushiro, where a chimney collapsed during the quake, killing eight workers. Rescue teams worked through the rubble at both sites for days following the disaster, pulling survivors from the wreckage even as hope for additional rescues diminished with each passing hour.
Beyond the two major disaster sites, the earthquake flattened homes and damaged infrastructure across rural communities in the Kumamoto region, an area that was also devastated by a series of major earthquakes in 2016. Soldiers and emergency workers have been deployed throughout the prefecture to assist with search-and-rescue operations and to help residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged.
Japanese officials have not issued a tsunami warning in connection with the quake. As recovery operations continue, authorities are expected to provide updated casualty figures in the coming days as the full scale of the disaster becomes clearer.
