Tokyo.- Japanese authorities raised the death toll this Wednesday to three from a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in the south of the archipelago, including two people who died due to the collapse of a shopping center where a dozen people remain missing, and reported more than 200 injured.
Two young women, in their twenties, died due to the explosion and collapse of a shopping center located in the town of Kashima, stated authorities from the southern prefecture of Kumamoto, according to the Japanese television network NHK.
To these two fatalities, another one is added, found the day before in a collapsed house in the city of Yatsushiro, according to the Kumamoto Police.
At least a dozen people remain missing following the spectacular explosion at the center operated by Aeon Mall, which took place shortly after some 200 people evacuated the building, and which authorities suspect was caused by a gas leak triggered by the powerful earthquake.
The rescue of eight people from under the rubble was completed at dawn and five were injured at the shopping center, added NHK, which raised to more than 200 the number of people who received medical attention in various hospitals in Kumamoto and specified that a dozen were seriously injured.
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Consequences of the earthquake
In particular, the Saiseikai Kumamoto hospital reported last night that 84 people injured by the earthquake were receiving medical attention and one of them was unconscious.
“People with injuries, such as fractures caused by falling furniture during the earthquake, are arriving one after another. We have 400 hospital beds, but we are already running out of space,” the hospital’s public relations office chief, Yoshitaka Matsuoka, told NHK.
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The earthquake occurred at 16:27 local time (07:27 GMT) on Tuesday, and its epicenter was located at a depth of about 10 kilometers under Kumamoto Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), which issued a brief tsunami warning.
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The tremor reached the maximum on the Japanese 7-level scale, which focuses on measuring ground shaking and the destructive potential of tremors, marking the first time this intensity has been recorded since an earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in 2024, causing 400 deaths.
The earthquake has caused significant material damage, according to authorities, which includes serious deformations and damage to the main highway on the Japanese island of Kyushu, as well as the collapse of part of the wall of the popular Kumamoto Castle and the fall of a gigantic chimney at a paper mill.
