Japan Earthquake Leaves Kumamoto Reeling

The Kumamoto earthquake has left southern Japan reeling after a 6.8-magnitude tremor struck late Tuesday, killing at least 13 people, damaging major landmarks and sending rescue crews into a fast-moving search for the missing. In the city of Kumamoto and nearby towns, homes, shops and public buildings were shaken hard enough to crack walls, knock items from shelves and cut off power and water for tens of thousands of people.

Among the dead were three people at the Aeon shopping mall in Kumamoto city, where some people remain unaccounted for. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said emergency services were in a race against time and moved 4,600 personnel onto the ground to help with recovery. She said teams would work through the night to assess the damage and monitor the affected areas, as responders tried to reach people trapped or stranded by the quake.

For residents, the quake brought back the fear of earlier disasters. Hiroko Ogata, the co-owner of Sendan Shokudo in Yatsushiro, said she had lived in the area her whole life and knew the land sat on an active fault system. When the building lurched as she walked into the restaurant, she ducked under a table as shelves emptied and glass shattered around her. She said the shaking felt worse than the quake that struck the region 10 years ago, and said she thought she would die.

Not far from the mall, another resident, Yui, described a scene of confusion inside her cake shop’s back office. She said she could not tell whether the noise came from the earthquake or an explosion, and could only cling to her chair as strong jolts kept coming. She said she still did not know how to describe what she felt, even hours later. Michal Posan, who has lived in Kumamoto for two years, said her television fell on her, her mirror broke and roads near her home were damaged. She said she had begun packing evacuation bags because the aftershocks kept coming.