by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
TOKYO (Worthy News) – Japan’s prime minister warned Wednesday that “every second counts” after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s southern Kumamoto Prefecture, killing more than a dozen people.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi spoke as thousands of military personnel were mobilized to reach people trapped beneath collapsed buildings and debris.
Authorities said Tuesday’s 6.8-magnitude earthquake killed at least 14 people.
Among the victims were workers at an Aeon Mall shopping center, where three employees were killed and three people remained missing after part of the building collapsed in what authorities believe was a gas explosion triggered by the quake.
RACE TO SAVE SURVIVORS
One woman who lived across the road described the blast as “terrifyingly loud.”
Prime Minister Takaichi said rescue teams were also searching for people “in need of help” at the Nippon Paper factory in Yatsushiro after the earthquake caused severe damage there.
It came as bridges buckled and a historic castle suffered fresh damage in a region still recovering from the devastating 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, which killed more than 270 people and caused widespread destruction.
Aeon Mall President Iwao Nagai said the cause of the explosion remained under investigation.
MALL EXPLOSION PROBED
He said about 3,000 shoppers and between 1,300 and 1,500 employees had been inside the shopping center when the 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck, but most customers were safely evacuated before the explosion occurred.
Rescue crews continued searching for three missing people trapped beneath the rubble while investigators examined whether the quake had triggered a gas leak that led to the blast.
Prime Minister Takaichi described the rescue effort as a “race against time,” saying every possible resource was being deployed to reach survivors.
Thousands of members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces joined firefighters, police officers, and other emergency personnel in the search operation.
WITNESSES RECALL FEAR
Witnesses described scenes of panic as buildings shook violently across Kumamoto Prefecture.
A schoolteacher said it was “chilling” to realize that some of his students could have been caught in the mall explosion had their class ended earlier.
A restaurant owner said residents had “never experienced such a big quake” in 75 years, reflecting the shock felt across the affected region.
Japan sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where several tectonic plates meet, making it one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries despite its strict building standards and advanced disaster preparedness systems.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Iran’s parliament speaker has issued a rare public warning that military power alone cannot preserve the Islamic Republic as hunger, inflation, and sanctions tighten around the country.
Concern was mounting Monday about a Christian in northwestern China who was detained for listening to the Bible stored on a USB memory stick plugged into his car’s audio system, amid a wider crackdown on Christian activities in the Communist-run nation, Christian sources said.
A Russian mother and son who fled to Finland after opposing Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have won a court battle against their deportation, but their future remains uncertain as Finnish authorities reconsider their asylum claim amid fears they could face imprisonment, torture and even death if returned to Russia.
Australian authorities have charged a Russian-Australian man with foreign interference after he allegedly infiltrated Ukraine’s armed forces to obtain military information for people he believed were linked to Russian intelligence.
A young Christian man was recovering from extensive injuries Saturday after he was allegedly attacked by a group of Muslims for intervening when Christian women were being harassed in Pakistan’s Punjab province, Christian representatives said.
Sudanese Christians and their supporters used the United Nations’ annual “International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief” on Saturday to condemn what they called a growing wave of killings, abductions and attacks against Christians in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains.
Mossad chief Roman Gofman reportedly met Sunday with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in a U.S.-mediated effort to calm rising tensions after Israel’s recent airstrike on the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northern Syria.