7.1 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Southwest Japan, At least 50 Feared Killed

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, July 28: A massive earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 shook Kumamoto on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu late Tuesday afternoon and a tsunami advisory was issued, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

While there was no official report about casualty, the Japanese media quoting the Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s office said a “considerable number of people have died in a shopping mall damaged by the major earthquake.

Police said they could not confirm whether there were any fatalities at the mall in the town of Kashima. Emergency services earlier said “many people” were trapped inside the building after a floor collapsed.

“A major earthquake collapsed buildings and sparked fires in Japan’s southwest,” Ms Sanae Takaichi said on Tuesday with media reports saying at least 50 people were taken to hospital. Television footage showed several blazes, damaged bridges, a derailed cargo train and cracked roads after the tremor on Kyushu island. The broadcaster reported at least 12 collapsed houses.

In the wake of the earthquake, the Japanese prime minister’s office instructed the authorities to assess the state of affairs regarding damage as soon as possible. The government moreover instructed authorities to prioritise human life above all else and spare no effort in emergency disaster response.

Apart from this, the Japanese government also issued emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures, all on Japan’s southern Kyushu island.

The quake at 4.27 p.m. (0727 GMT) had a magnitude of 7.1, according to the JMA. The quake was recorded in the western region of Kumamoto, about 900 km southwest of Tokyo, and at a depth of 10 kilometres from the sea surface. However, the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no risk of a tsunami beyond local coasts.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured the quake — one of hundreds that strike Japan every year — at 6.8. The vast majority cause little damage. “We are still assessing the extent of injuries and property damage, but I have been informed that there have already been several injuries,” Ms Takaichi said.

“Power outages and fires are happening in some areas, and roads and bridges have been damaged and buildings collapsed,” she said. The JMA initially issued an alert for a possible tsunami of up to one metre (three feet), but withdrew the warning at around 6.10 p.m.

“This earthquake occurred inland, and no tsunami activity has been observed so far. For this reason, we hope to lift the tsunami advisory at a relatively early stage, depending on future sea level conditions,” a JMA spokesperson said.

No immediate abnormalities were recorded at nuclear power plants, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said. About 45,000 households and facilities have no power in the Kumamoto region, according to local utility Kyushu Electric Power. The firm added that three nuclear reactors operating in the region at the time were functioning normally.

A local broadcaster wearing a helmet reported live on air that the shaking was continuing around half an hour after the quake, with the newsroom rocking so violently that it was difficult to remain standing. “Shaking is continuing as I speak. Including myself, there may be some people who feel their hearts racing,” the staffer said.

Kumamoto was hit by two devastating earthquakes in 2016 — one of magnitude 6.5, followed two days later by one of magnitude 7.3 — which killed 273 people and injured more than 2,800. A quake with a magnitude of 7.2 hit northern Japan on June 25 but caused no deaths or major damage. A tremor measuring 7.7 hit the country’s north on April 20 this year, injuring at least 10 people and shaking large buildings in Tokyo.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” The archipelago, home to around 125 million people, typically experiences hundreds of jolts every year and accounts for about 18 percent of the world’s earthquakes.

The vast majority are mild, although the damage they cause varies according to their location and the depth below the Earth’s surface at which they strike.

Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.