A 7.1-magnitude Japan earthquake tore through the southern prefecture of Kumamoto on Tuesday, snapping power lines like brittle twigs, splitting roads open, and leaving some residents trapped while others are feared dead beneath the wreckage of a partially collapsed shopping mall.

Speaking from her Tokyo office, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters that officials were still working to grasp the full scope of destruction in a region that once endured a devastating quake a decade earlier — a wound barely healed before this new one tore it open again.

"We have already been informed that people have been injured. Power outages and fires have occurred in some areas, and there has also been damage to roads and bridges and the collapse of buildings," Takaichi said, before urging residents to prioritize their own safety. "I ask everyone to take action to protect themselves, including evacuating to a safe location."

Mass Evacuations and Military Boots on the Ground

Roughly 300,000 people have been directed toward evacuation centers, while hundreds of troops have fanned out across the region to assist rescue crews as aftershocks continued rattling Kyushu, Japan's southwestern island, like distant drumbeats refusing to fade.

'Like Volcanic Ash Was Falling'

At the prefecture's largest shopping mall, chaos multiplied. Between 20 and 30 workers remained unaccounted for after an explosion rocked the building in the quake's aftermath, national broadcaster NHK reported. Fire crews had already confirmed that multiple people were trapped inside before local police told reporters that several had died or were presumed dead — details Reuters could not immediately verify independently.

Footage from the scene showed one entire side of the mall — home to roughly 200 stores — torn away like paper, exposing twisted steel beams and scattering debris across a sprawling parking lot. Ambulances and fire trucks lined the area as search teams combed through the wreckage for survivors.

A spokesperson for mall operator Aeon said shoppers and staff were evacuated immediately following the initial tremor, though the cause of the subsequent explosion remained murky. Broadcaster NTV reported that authorities suspect a gas explosion may be to blame.

Kazuya Tsurunaga, who was cleaning up broken dishes inside a pub roughly 300 meters from the mall, described the blast to TBS as disorienting and forceful. "It was a huge impact," he said. "A large cloud of smoke billowed up, and because the wind happened to be blowing and the wind direction was towards the shop, the area around us was in a state like volcanic ash was falling" — a description that turned an ordinary afternoon into something resembling a scene from a disaster film.

Factories, Trains and Hospitals Overwhelmed

Elsewhere, a collapsed chimney at a Nippon Paper Industries factory left multiple workers missing, NHK reported, while two hospitals scrambled to treat more than 50 patients each, some in serious condition. Passengers riding high-speed trains at the moment the quake struck also sustained injuries, according to rail operators.

Authorities said they were juggling multiple emergencies simultaneously — buildings partially caving in, fires breaking out in scattered pockets across the region. In one such collapse, in a town near the epicenter, a single death was confirmed, broadcaster TV Asahi reported.

Cracked Highways and Grounded Flights

Roads buckled under the strain, with deep fissures splitting major highways and choking traffic to a crawl. Rail service ground to a halt, and flights were suspended entirely, stranding travelers as the region's infrastructure buckled under the shock.

Tech Giants Pause, Then Cautiously Resume

The quake sent ripples through Japan's industrial heartland. TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, along with Sony and Fujifilm, evacuated workers from their facilities as a precaution. TSMC later said its site emerged unscathed, with operations gradually coming back online by Tuesday night.

Not every company was as fortunate in timing. Tokyo Electron, a major semiconductor equipment maker, announced it would halt operations at both of its Kumamoto factories through Wednesday, while Honda said it would temporarily shutter its motorcycle plant in the same region — a reminder of how deeply intertwined Japan's tech supply chain is with the ground beneath it.

Epicenter Near a City of 700,000

The quake's epicenter sat roughly 20 kilometers south of Kumamoto city, the largest urban center in central Kyushu with a population near 700,000 — putting a dense population directly in the shaking's path.

A Week of Aftershocks Ahead

Residents in the hardest-hit zones have been warned to stay alert for another week, bracing for potential aftershocks and landslides, according to an official with the Japan Meteorological Agency. Roughly 100 minor aftershocks have already rattled Kumamoto since the initial jolt — a steady drumbeat that shows no sign of quieting just yet.

Japan sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a volatile arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that makes the country responsible for roughly 20% of the world's magnitude-6.0-or-greater earthquakes — a statistic that turns geological anxiety into near-constant background noise for its residents.

A tsunami warning was issued in the earthquake's immediate aftermath but was lifted shortly after, offering at least one sliver of relief amid the chaos.

Power Out, Communication Down

Kyushu Electric Power reported that 48,000 homes lost electricity in the quake's wake, while rail operator JR Kyushu suspended services entirely, including its signature bullet trains. Kumamoto airport shut down its runway altogether, forcing airlines to divert or cancel flights outright.

Telecom providers KDDI and Docomo confirmed disruptions to mobile service, caused by power shortages and damaged transmission lines — leaving some residents cut off from both electricity and the ability to call for help.

Japan's nuclear regulation authority, meanwhile, reported no irregularities at nuclear power stations in the affected area, offering one piece of reassurance amid the widespread disruption.

Echoes of a Deadly Decade-Old Disaster

A massive earthquake struck Kumamoto a decade ago, killing 275 people and injuring 2,739 more, according to official figures, while damaging thousands of buildings — including the city's iconic castle, one of the region's premier tourist destinations. Tuesday's quake reopened old wounds quite literally: portions of the castle's stone walls collapsed once again, an official from the castle's office confirmed.

As night fell and thousands of homes remained without power, authorities issued a fresh warning — this time about heatstroke, with temperatures expected to climb to 34 degrees Celsius, or 93 degrees Fahrenheit, on Wednesday. For residents already reeling from the quake, the heat added one more challenge to an already grueling recovery.