Japan’s Kyushu rocked by 7.1 quake, tsunami warning issued

A preliminary magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Japan’s Kyushu region and the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for waves of up to 1 metre. The shaking hit Kumamoto prefecture near Uki city at a depth of about 10 km and reached the maximum intensity of 7 on Japan’s seismic scale. Officials reported nine people injured, and a shopping center collapse left people missing as power and travel were disrupted.

The warning covered residents along the Ariake Sea and the Yatsushiro Sea, where coastal communities faced the immediate risk from the tsunami advisory. The combination of a shallow epicenter and the strongest level on Japan’s intensity scale underscored how widely the quake was felt across Kyushu, especially in Kumamoto and nearby areas.

The shock also reopened memories of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake sequence, when more than 500 earthquakes struck Kumamoto and neighboring areas between April 14 and April 18. That sequence began with a magnitude 6.5 foreshock and was followed by a magnitude 7.3 main shock, leaving dozens dead, thousands of buildings damaged, roads torn up and landslides across the region.

Kyushu has remained seismically active in the years since. A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck southern Japan on January 13, 2025, reinforcing the region’s exposure to active tectonic boundaries and the strain that repeated shocks place on transport corridors, building safety and coastal evacuation planning. The latest quake tested those systems again in Kumamoto, where injuries, a collapsed shopping center and disruption to power and travel showed how quickly a major tremor can ripple through daily life.