A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s southern Kyushu region on Tuesday, triggering tsunami warnings, emergency alerts and precautionary evacuations across several prefectures, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).The JMA said the preliminary 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu at a depth of 10 kilometres beneath the seabed.Following the quake, the agency issued “a tsunami warning for a wave measuring 1 metre (3.28 ft)”, while Japan’s cabinet office issued a tsunami advisory for the Ariake Sea and Yatsushiro Sea.The agency said the tsunami advisory covered Ariake Bay on the western coast of Kumamoto, around 900 kilometres southwest of Tokyo. The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a tsunami beyond local coastlines.Japan’s cabinet office disaster management division said the earthquake registered the highest seismic intensity of 7 in the Kumamoto region and urged residents to rely on official information.“An earthquake occurred in the Kumamoto region of Kumamoto Prefecture, registering a maximum seismic intensity of 7. Residents in areas where the shaking was strong, in addition to information from the national government and local authorities, please check reliable sources such as television, radio, and the internet, and act calmly,” it said.Meanwhile, prime minister Sanae Takaichi said the government had established a task force to monitor the situation and coordinate the response.“We are putting people’s lives as the top priority,” Takaichi said in a message posted on X, urging residents in affected areas to avoid the coastline and remain alert for possible strong aftershocks.The Japanese government activated emergency earthquake warnings for Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita and Miyazaki prefectures, all on Kyushu island.According to the National Center for Seismology, the earthquake occurred at 12:57:22 IST with its epicentre at latitude 32.643°N and longitude 130.985°E, at a depth of 70 kilometres.Authorities said electricity supply was disrupted to around 45,600 households in Kumamoto prefecture, according to Kyushu Electric.As a precaution, Shinkansen bullet train services and local train operations across parts of Kyushu were temporarily suspended for safety inspections, while the defence ministry dispatched aircraft to assess the impact.The earthquake revived memories of the devastating Kumamoto earthquakes in 2016, which killed more than 50 people, injured around 1,800 and damaged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes. Restoration work at the historic Kumamoto Castle, which was extensively damaged in the disaster, is expected to continue until 2052.
