Magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocks Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture
Representational image.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit the southern Kumamoto prefecture of Japan on Tuesday, causing widespread power outages and disrupting major transportation routes.
It led authorities to issue immediate warnings for tsunamis and potential aftershocks across the region.
Japan Meteorological Agency broadcast emergency alerts for the Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Saga, Oita, and Miyazaki prefectures, all situated on the southern island of Kyushu.
Following the quake, the agency specifically warned of a possible one-meter (3.28-foot) tsunami wave.
The disaster severely impacted local infrastructure, as Kyushu Electric Power reported that the tremor left roughly 40,000 homes without electricity. The railway company JR Kyushu halted all train services, including its high-speed bullet train operations.
While the earthquake caused significant disruption, Japan's nuclear regulation authority confirmed that they detected no irregularities at the nuclear power plants located within the area.
The region serves as a critical hub for global technology, housing plants for major corporations like Sony and the world’s leading contract chipmaker, TSMC.
While TSMC did not offer an immediate comment on the status of its facilities, a spokesperson for Sony said, “the company was checking the situation.”
Geographically, Japan remains among the most earthquake-prone territories in the world, sitting atop the “Ring of Fire”, a volatile chain of oceanic trenches and volcanoes circling the Pacific Basin.
Because of this location, a tremor occurs in the country at least once every five minutes, and Japan accounts for about 20 percent of all global earthquakes measuring magnitude 6.0 or higher.
The latest event serves as a grim reminder of the massive Kumamoto earthquake from 10 years ago, which official records show killed 275 people and injured another 2,739.
Source: Reuters (adapted)
