{"id":828902,"date":"2026-07-28T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828902\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T11:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T11:00:16","slug":"japans-kyushu-island-hit-by-two-strong-earthquakes-within-an-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/828902\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s Kyushu island hit by two strong earthquakes within an hour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Japan’s south-western Kyushu island has been struck by two strong earthquakes within an hour, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).<\/p>\n

An initial magnitude-7.1 quake hit the Kumamoto south-western prefecture at 4:35pm local time (5:35pm AEST) on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The prefecture was then struck by 26 additional aftershocks ranging in magnitude between 3.3 and 4.5, before a magnitude-6.1 tremor was recorded at 5:12pm (6:12pm AEST).<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

The quakes hit just south of the town of Uki, near the prefecture’s capital city, local authorities reported.<\/p>\n

“We are still assessing the extent of injuries and property damage, but I have been informed that there have already been several injuries,” Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.<\/p>\n

“Power outages and fires are happening in some areas, and roads and bridges have been damaged and buildings collapsed.”<\/p>\n

One hospital had reported more than 50 injuries, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.<\/p>\n

NHK is also reporting people have been trapped inside a shopping mall damaged in the earthquake.<\/p>\n

Police earlier said they had received reports of what sounded like an explosion at the Aeon Mall outlet in Kumamoto, with no information on damage or any casualties.<\/p>\n

Seismology authorities from Geoscience Australia and the United States Geological Survey reported the initial quake struck at a depth of 10 kilometres below the sea’s surface.<\/p>\n

A tsunami warning for a wave measuring 1 metre was issued after the earthquake, the JMA said.<\/p>\n

The warning was lifted about two hours later.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Japan’s south-western Kumamoto prefecture has been hit by a magnitude-7.1 earthquake, followed by a magnitude-6.1 tremor less than an hour later. (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Urgent government response<\/p>\n

The Japanese government also issued emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures, all on Japan’s southern Kyushu island.<\/p>\n

The tremor caused power outages for at least 48,000 households in the Kumamoto prefecture and fires broke out in several locations, Japan’s state broadcaster NHK reported.<\/p>\n

Ms Takaichi also confirmed a meeting of the country’s Emergency Assembly Team was called in the Countermeasures Room to assess the quake.<\/p>\n

She said local fire stations were responding to the incidents and urged all people to stay away from the coast.<\/p>\n

“The investigation team was dispatched from the government cabinet office and human and physical casualties have been investigated,” Ms Takaichi told the media.<\/p>\n

“There are places where power outages are taking place. I urge people to take shelter and evacuate to safe places.”<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

The extent of damage to the area is being assessed. (Supplied: Nippon Hoso Kyokai\u00a0)<\/p>\n

Local media outlet NHK reported that police are seeking the whereabouts of nine people.<\/p>\n

NHK also reported a train was derailed during the earthquake.<\/p>\n

Ms Takaichi released a statement on X that urged local government ministries and emergency response agencies to immediately assess damage and to prioritise any necessary rescue of residents.<\/p>\n

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Japanese authorities warned of a tsunami risk in at least two south-western prefectures moments after the quake struck. (Supplied: JMA)<\/p>\n

Earthquake prone area<\/p>\n

Located along the “Ring of Fire” of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling \u2060the Pacific Basin, \u200cJapan accounts for about 20 per cent \u200cof the world’s earthquakes of magnitude-6 or more.<\/p>\n

Kumamoto was hit with a deadly quake in 2016 that left more than 50 people dead, 1,800 injured and tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.<\/p>\n

Kyushu Electric Power said there were no \u200creports of irregularities at \u2060its Sendai and Genkai nuclear power stations after the earthquake.<\/p>\n

Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said no abnormalities were found at three nearby nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n

Train operator JR Kyushu said it had suspended \u2060services, including its high-speed Shinkansen trains following the quake.<\/p>\n

AP\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan’s south-western Kyushu island has been struck by two strong earthquakes within an hour, according to the Japan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1724,43179,16155,43,941,189949,10570,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-828902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-asia","tag-earthquakes","tag-emergencies","tag-headlines","tag-japan","tag-kumamoto","tag-natural-disasters","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}