Quake in Japan's Kumamoto leaves 28 dead, rescue race intensifies
The death toll from Tuesday’s magnitude‑7.1 earthquake in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture has risen to 28, including cases under investigation for possible disaster links, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Thursday, Qazinform News Agency learned from Kyodo.
Rescue operations remain urgent, with teams working at a collapsed shopping mall and a damaged paper factory. Local authorities confirmed 17 deaths, while six others showed no vital signs. Five fatalities occurred at an Aeon mall in Kashima after an explosion, and eight at Nippon Paper Industries’ Yatsushiro plant, where smokestacks were heavily damaged.
The Kyushu Shinkansen Line between Kumamoto and Kagoshima‑chuo stations remains suspended, though partial service between Chikugo-Funagoya Station in Fukuoka Prefecture and Kumamoto Station is expected to resume Thursday.
Thousands of households are still without power or water, and more than 10,000 people are sheltering in evacuation centers. Aftershocks continue, with Tuesday’s temblor registering the maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale in Uki and Hikawa at 4:27 p.m.
Earlier, it was reported that the ground surface in the city of Yatsushiro in Kumamoto Prefecture moved about 87 centimeters in a northeasterly direction following Tuesday's strong earthquake.
