Business was winding down for the day at Sendan Shokudo, a diner in Japan's south-western city of Yatsushiro, when the whole building suddenly lurched. Everything on the kitchen shelves cascaded to the floor, and bowls and glasses shattered. At least 13 people have been killed in the wake of the 6.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Kumamoto late on Tuesday, and rescue efforts are continuing as emergency services race to find those still missing.
The restaurant's co-owner, 75-year-old Hiroko Ogata, had just walked in when the shaking began. She said she had never felt anything as strong in her life in Yatsushiro, in central Kumamoto prefecture, despite living there her whole life and being used to tremors because the area sits on an active tectonic fault system. The region was also hit by a pair of earthquakes in 2016 that killed 277 people and injured 2,800 others.
“I was surprised, and scared,”
“I went under one of the tables right away, but the table moved sharply towards the right, left, right, left, with me.”
“The last quake 10 years ago was nothing like this one,”
“I thought I would die.”
Of the 13 dead, three died in the Aeon shopping mall in Kumamoto city, where a number of people remain unaccounted for. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned that emergency services are in a “race against time” as rescue operations continue.
How did people experience the earthquake?
For many residents, the quake arrived with a frightening mix of noise, shaking and confusion. Just a few hundred metres away from the Aeon mall, Yui - who preferred not to use her real name for this report - was sitting in the back office of her cake shop when it struck. She said she could not distinguish the sound of the earthquake from what she thought was an explosion, and she could do little more than cling to her chair as the jolts kept coming.
“I couldn't tell which was the sound of the earthquake and which was the sound of the explosion,”
“All I could do was hold the chair I was sitting in as big jolts came one after another,”
“I didn't know what to feel; I couldn't even feel scared in such a situation. Even now I don't know what to feel, and I don't know how to explain.”
Authorities and emergency responders moved quickly after the tremor struck. Shortly after the quake, Takaichi put 4,600 personnel on the ground to assist with recovery, and said teams would work “tirelessly through the night” to assess and monitor the damage in affected areas. Tens of thousands of people have experienced power and water outages across Kumamoto City, and at least 45 medical facilities have been damaged.
The earthquake also caused major structural damage in the city. The exterior walls of the 17th century Kumamoto Castle, in the city's centre, came toppling down in a plume of dust, while the worship hall of the 19th Century Yatshushiro Shrine completely collapsed.
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Kumamoto is no stranger to earthquakes, but locals described this one as particularly strong. The scale of the shaking left many residents stunned and worried about what could come next, especially as aftershocks continued to be felt hours later.
What is the situation for residents now?
Some residents say basic supplies are already running short and that damage to homes and roads has made life more difficult. One local resident, Michal Posan, said there is “no water or food left in the stores”. Posan, 25, has been living in Kumamoto for two years and was at home when the quake hit. She said her television fell on her, her mirror smashed and roads around her were damaged, and that she had started preparing evacuation bags because of the “constant aftershocks”.
“My TV fell on me, my mirror smashed and the roads around me were damaged,”
Another resident said the city was still being shaken by aftershocks hours after the initial tremor, adding that people feared another quake could follow. He pointed to the 2016 earthquake, which was followed by a second days later, as a reason for that concern.
“People are wary of another earthquake on the way,”
“The 2016 earthquake [was] followed by a second days later.”
Experts share that concern. Shinji Kiyomoto of Japan's Meteorological Agency urged the public to “remain vigilant” for further earthquakes, also referring to the deadly 2016 series of earthquakes that struck days apart. He said an even larger quake could not be ruled out and told people to stay on alert.
“We cannot rule out the possibility that an even larger quake could follow this time as well,”
“We urge people to remain on alert.”
Kyushu island, where Kumamoto prefecture is located, is crossed by a web of active fault zones, including the Hinagu fault, which runs about 81km through the island's heartland. That fault zone was partially activated in the 2016 quakes, but experts have long warned that its remaining, unruptured sections could still generate a major earthquake.
Assessments by the government's earthquake research committee suggest that tremors with magnitudes as high as 7.5 could strike along the inland section of the zone. If the whole Hinagu fault were to rupture, the magnitude could reach 8.
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In the meantime, locals like Ogata and Yui are trying to restore some kind of normality while the shockwaves, both geological and psychological, continue. Ogata said she had begun cleaning the restaurant so it could reopen as soon as possible, but repeated aftershocks kept interrupting her work.
“The whole of my place is messy, and I don't know where to stand – but we have to earn our living by restarting our restaurant as soon as possible, so I am cleaning the place today,”
“But when I try to work for a bit, an aftershock occurs and I have to stop – then I do some work and we have another aftershock… So it is going so slowly.”
“If we keep having this many aftershocks it will be very stressful.”
Yui's cake shop remains closed while she assesses the extent of the damage. She said she has not yet checked whether appliances such as the oven still work, and only after that will she know whether she can reopen.
“I haven't checked whether the machines such as the oven are working,”
“After I check those, I will have an idea whether I can go back to business or not.”
