Nearly three months after a powerful earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Japan's island of Kyushu, communities across the region are rebuilding. The Kumamoto earthquake killed 39 people as of August 11, according to prefectural figures reported by Jiji Press, and injured 368. As of August 27, 31,951 homes had been damaged across Kyushu, 1,449 of them collapsed.
The magnitude 7.1 quake, as measured by the Japan Meteorological Agency (the USGS measured Mw 6.8), struck at 4:27 p.m. on July 28 at shallow depth on the Hinagu Fault and reached shindo 7, the top of the agency's intensity scale. Uki, Hikawa, Yatsushiro, Kashima and Kumamoto City were among the hardest-hit areas, and damage extended into Nagasaki and other Kyushu prefectures.
Two incidents caused many of the deaths. At Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima, a partial collapse and an LP-gas explosion killed seven people, and in Yatsushiro, the collapse of a chimney at Nippon Paper's plant killed nine. About 48,300 households lost power and up to 84,000 lost water, and the Kyushu Shinkansen was damaged.
The number of evacuees peaked at 10,467 in 415 shelters, and more than 2,000 people were still sheltering on August 28. About 4,600 Self-Defense Force troops were deployed, and the government released ¥24 billion and ¥147.8 billion from reserve funds. You can find organizations that support earthquake relief and recovery in our list of disaster relief organizations.
To follow the recovery and find ways to donate, visit the Kumamoto Earthquake disaster page.
