‘The strongest quake I’ve ever experienced’published at 07:28 BST 29 July
07:28 BST 29 July
Image source, Getty Images
Kanzo Matsumoto, who operates a hot spring inn in Yatsushiro, has called it “the strongest quake [he’s] ever experienced”.
“I’m not sure if [the region] will be able to recover from the damage,” the 73-year-old tells AFP news agency.
Chiharu Hara, who was at work when the quake hit, recalls her office “swaying violently side to side”.
“I was afraid it would collapse. Everyone panicked,” Hara, 35, tells AFP.
“The shaking reminded me of the Kumamoto quake [in 2016] and I was frightened,” Hiroki Shimoda, a local official at the town of Mifune, told the Associated Press.
In April 2016, two earthquakes – magnitudes 6.5 and 7.3 – struck Kumamoto two days apart, killing more than 270 people.