Earthquake displaces nearly 10,000 people, halts factories in Kyushu
The death toll from the earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture has risen to 13. The quake disrupted production at automotive and semiconductor giants. Taiwan is among the first to offer assistance.
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – After 24 hours, the number of confirmed dead from the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, has risen to 13. Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 people remain in evacuation centres and several services remain suspended.
After the main shock at 4:27 pm yesterday, aftershocks continued throughout the night.
Some 4,600 military personnel have been deployed to the affected area, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi announced, 170 involved in rescue operations at the collapsed Aeon Mall in the city of Kashima, the site of the most serious accident, where, about an hour after the quake, an explosion caused the second floor to cave in.
Before the floor collapsed, about 200 people had already been evacuated from the site, which had reopened on 13 June after extensive renovations to mark its 25th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of reconstruction following an earthquake that devastated the same region when Kumamoto was hit by a sequence of seismic events of magnitudes 6.5 and 7.3 in April 2016.
More deaths were reported at a Nippon Paper Industries plant in Yatsushiro where a collapsed chimney trapped 11 people. Seven have been found so far, five dead, while four are still missing. Another victim was pulled alive from a collapsed house in the city of Yatsushiro but died shortly afterward in hospital.
An exceptional heatwave has further complicated the rescue effort, with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius today, in several areas of the prefecture. Approximately 36,700 homes, primarily in Yatsushiro and Uki, were left without power, while water was cut off in tens of thousands of homes.
The 9,872 people sheltering in 465 evacuation centres were joined by many more families who preferred to spend the night in their cars, parked in front of convenience stores, service areas, or along country roads.
The earthquake has also paralysed the local economy and transportation system. The greatest impact has been on industries in a region home to some of the world’s leading electronics and automotive giants.
Honda has shut down its plant in the city of Ozu, while auto parts manufacturer Astemo has suspended operations at its Uki plant. Toyota, which had suspended three plants in neighbouring Fukuoka Prefecture, restarted them this morning and then shut them down again in the evening, pending an assessment of the earthquake’s impact on its supply chain.
Sony Semiconductor Solutions halted production at its Kikuyo plant, while Renesas Electronics has closed two plants after finding cracks in walls, water leaks, and some collapsed panels – neither company has yet indicated a restart time.
Mitsubishi Chemical has suspended operations at its Uto plant, where two employees were injured. Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, which has operated a major plant in Kikuyo since 2024, also temporarily evacuated its workers, gradually resuming operations while equipment inspections continue.
The Taiwanese government was among the first to express solidarity with Japan.
“Taiwan and Japan are true friends who stand together in times of adversity,” wrote Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in Japanese on X a few hours after the earthquake. “Taiwan stands ready to provide assistance at any time,” he added.
Taiwanese Prime Minister Cho Jung-tai announced that a special search and rescue team has been placed on alert, ready to intervene at the request of Japanese authorities.
Taiwan’s swift official response is not just an act of diplomatic courtesy. Taiwan and Japan do not have formal diplomatic relations, but they maintain close economic ties, strengthened in recent years by their shared perception of the threat posed by China.
Added to this is the shared experience of natural disasters – Taiwan is also a high-risk area, hit by devastating earthquakes.
But there is also the direct economic interest represented by the presence of TSMC, which since 2024 has operated the first overseas plant of its subsidiary, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM), a strategic investment for the chip industry that has helped make the Kumamoto area a globally important semiconductor hub.
