Kumamoto Earthquake Kills at Least 13 as a Newly Reopened Shopping Mall Collapses

A powerful earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on Japan's southwestern main island, killing at least 18 people and prompting a continuing search for the missing. The South China Morning Post reported that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed the earlier toll after a newly reopened Aeon Mall collapsed, with rescue work extending into Wednesday. CBS News reported that at the mall, three people were confirmed killed in a gas explosion and three store employees remained missing, while a collapsed chimney at a Nippon Paper Industries factory killed five and left others trapped.

Sources gave differing magnitudes. The South China Morning Post and The Japan Times reported the quake at magnitude 7.1, while The New York Times reported a magnitude of 6.8. All described emergency crews working urgently to reach people trapped in collapsed buildings and to put out fires, with the toll expected to rise and rescue efforts complicated by high temperatures.

The disaster struck a region already familiar with major seismic events and now facing damage to recently rebuilt commercial structures, including the mall whose collapse accounts for a share of the confirmed deaths.