Japan earthquake kills 23 as mall explosion compounds Kumamoto devastation

Rescue teams are still searching quake-hit sites in Kumamoto after a mall explosion and structural collapses. With power, water and shelter stretched, intense heat is worsening an already fragile recovery.Rural communities in southwestern Japan were struggling to return to normal on Thursday, two days after a powerful earthquake triggered an explosion at a shopping mall, toppled a factory chimney and flattened homes. At least 23 people were killed and 63 were injured, five of them seriously, according to the Kumamoto prefectural government.Rescue teams were continuing search operations in the Kumamoto area on Japan's southern main island of Kyushu, where the magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck on Tuesday. The number of missing people was still unclear. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters on Thursday that a police tally had put the death toll at 28, but said that figure included cases still under investigation and that some might later be found to be unrelated to the earthquake.Thousands of people spent another night at evacuation centres set up in gymnasiums and other large spaces across the area. Some homes were still without water or electricity, while others were staying away because they were afraid to return. Nearly 23,000 homes remained without electricity and more than 10,000 people were staying in about 400 shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.There were growing concerns about illness in the sweltering heat. The Ministry of Environment issued a heat stroke alert for the Kumamoto area, where temperatures were expected to rise to 33 degrees Celsius on Thursday. In Hikawa, one of the worst-hit towns in Kumamoto, many residents were without water or electricity, or both, and some were sleeping in their vehicles in parks or in the town hall car park. At the entrance to the town hall, officials handed out bottled water and packaged instant rice, while Ground Self-Defense Force personnel brought fresh water on a trolley.Yoshiaki Nakashima, a 66-year-old resident who came with two bottles and his pet dog to collect water, said he was staying in a car because he did not want to stay at any of the three evacuation centres in the area. He also said he did not want to sleep at home because aftershocks made him uneasy. "It's difficult to turn over while sleeping in a car," he said, adding that living at a shelter was even more difficult. Another resident, Akiko Inazaki, who is in her 30s, said she was living in a tent in the yard of her home, which had been without water and electricity since the quake. She said the water she collected would be used little by little. "Fresh water is so valuable," she said. Inazaki also said she had drunk so little water that she had almost suffered heat stroke. Officials in Hikawa said the town hall car park had been nearly full on the first night, but some residents had since moved to three public schools where air conditioning was available. Town official Yuzuru Tamura said emergency food supplies, including canned bread and instant rice, were starting to run low.The most serious damage was reported at the Aeon Mall shopping centre in Kashima, which had been crowded with thousands of people when the earthquake struck late in the afternoon. The company said about 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking area before an explosion took place in another part of the mall, where some people were still working. The second floor of the mall collapsed, trapping people underneath.As of early Thursday, authorities said six people had been confirmed dead at the mall site among 11 people pulled out from the debris. Family members of those still missing were seen waiting near the wrecked building for news despite the intense heat. In the Yatsushiro area, where a chimney collapsed at a Nippon Paper Industries factory, 10 people were rescued, but eight died and one person remained missing, according to the Kumamoto prefectural government disaster team.Across the affected areas, survivors spoke of returning home and trying desperately to pull family members out from the rubble before the injured were taken to hospital. With rescue operations continuing and basic services still disrupted, communities in Kumamoto were facing a difficult recovery amid the heat and the uncertainty over those still missing.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Jul 30, 2026 12:32 IST