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Rescuers search for the missing after Japan earthquake as death toll rises to 13

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− Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Rescuers search for the missing after Japan earthquake Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 13 people.
+ Fresh Air Wild Card with Rachel Martin It's Been a Minute Embedded Get NPR+ More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop Get NPR+ Tiny Desk New Music Friday All Songs Considered Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Rescuers search for the missing after Japan earthquake Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner, in southwestern Japan.
− Asia Rescuers search for the missing after Japan earthquake as death toll rises to 13 July 29, 20261:34 AM ET By The Associated Press This aerial image shows a damaged chimney of the Nippon Paper Industries Co.'s Yatsushiro factory, following an earthquake in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
+ Asia Death toll rises to 18 as rescuers comb through quake rubble in southwestern Japan Updated July 29, 20267:29 AM ET Originally published July 29, 20261:34 AM ET By The Associated Press This aerial image shows a damaged chimney of the Nippon Paper Industries Co.'s Yatsushiro factory, following an earthquake in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
− Naoki Hiraoka/Kyodo News via AP hide caption KUMAMOTO, Japan — Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 13 people and left many missing in southwestern Japan.
+ Naoki Hiraoka/Kyodo News via AP hide caption KUMAMOTO, Japan — Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner, in southwestern Japan.
− Bullet train services and some airport operations remained suspended and damage was still being assessed a day after the magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu.
+ The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu also left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the prefectural government said. The tally has been steadily growing, fanning fears it may continue to rise.
− "There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it's a race against time," Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
+ The sweltering weather heightened worries about the survivors as rescuers braved the heat.
− "We will go all out to find and rescue as many people as we can." About 36,900 homes were still without electricity, 9,500 homes were without gas and communication networks were not working in some areas, chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara told reporters.
+ It remained unclear how many people might still be missing.
− More than 9,000 people left their homes to stay in more than 500 shelters, and he said power sources were being added so the evacuation centers had air conditioning.
+ Some of the most serious damage was at the Aeon Mall shopping center in Kashima city, which was bustling with thousands of people when the quake happened.
− Japan has had an ongoing heat wave, and temperatures in the area were forecast to exceed 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit).
+ The company said some 3,000 customers were evacuated to a parking lot before a gas explosion happened in another part of the mall, where some people were still working.
+ The mall's second floor collapsed, trapping people. Witnesses said the explosion shook the area as much as the quake. Three people remained missing, while four deaths were confirmed at the mall site, according to Aeon President Akio Yoshida. "We take it seriously that an explosion happened and precious lives were lost," Yoshida told a news conference in Kumamoto, where he bowed deeply along with two other executives. Japanese media footage of the mall showed that part of the ceiling had caved in, and metal pieces and other debris were scattered about as helmeted and masked rescue workers searched the area.
A vehicle passes by collapsed houses after an earthquake in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto prefecture, Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
− Juntaro Yokoyama/Kyodo News via AP hide caption Japan's Self Defense Forces joined rescue workers in the search and rescue operations at the badly damaged Aeon Mall in the town of Kashima.
+ Juntaro Yokoyama/Kyodo News via AP hide caption Kiyoshi Matsunaga, 74, who lives in the mall's neighborhood and was at a supermarket just a few blocks away, said he thought he was going to die. He stopped in his tracks when the shaking began while he was pushing his cart toward a cash register.
− The building's second floor collapsed, trapping people, after an explosion suspected to have been caused by a gas leak.
+ Things scattered from the shelves.
− The number of people who still may be trapped was not available.
+ He could not move, he recalled.
− A chimney collapsed at the Nippon Paper Industries Co.'s Yatsushiro factory, trapping people under the debris, the Kumamoto emergency team said.
+ "I was frightened," he said. In nearby Yatsushino, a chimney collapse at a Nippon Paper Industries factory killed five people while seven others were rescued from the debris, according to the Kumamoto prefectural government disaster team. Four people were still believed to be trapped there, it said. In the first reported death of a foreign national, a Vietnamese technical intern was killed after a crane fell on him at a factory where he worked, according to the Vietnamese government.
− As of Wednesday, seven people were feared still trapped.
+ He had arrived in Japan in January.
− Two survivors and two bodies were removed, officials said.
+ Seven other Vietnamese technical interns at the factory evacuated safely Separately, a Vietnamese woman married to one of the workers was injured when a wall collapsed and was being treated at a hospital.
− Takaichi said the federal government was preparing to deliver food and other necessities to hard-hit areas.
+ Nearly 34,900 homes were still without electricity and some 15,000 homes without running water, Kumamoto officials said.
− She also offered her condolences to the victims and sympathy to their relatives, while urging those affected by the quake to take care of themselves under the hot weather.
+ More than 8,800 people left their homes to stay in over 400 shelters, where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.
− The Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train remained suspended Wednesday.
+ Aerial police footage showed some homes in residential areas were completely flattened, including a few that crumbled into a nearby river. Japan's Self Defense Forces joined rescue workers in the search and rescue operations.
− Aso Kumamoto Airport was resuming operations after closing one runway Tuesday, but officials said some flights may be canceled.
+ Hundreds of professionals were helping with the effort, including firefighters from Taiwan.
− AEON Mall, which was damaged by an explosion following an earthquake, is seen in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
+ "There are people who are still waiting to be rescued, and it's a race against time," Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.
− Hiro Komae/AP hide caption Stone walls were damaged at Kumamoto Castle, a main tourist destination that was badly damaged in the 2016 quake and is still being repaired, Kyodo News reported.
+ "We will go all out to find and rescue as many people as we can." AEON Mall, which was damaged by an explosion following an earthquake, is seen in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, southern Japan, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. Hiro Komae/AP hide caption Takaichi said the federal government was preparing to deliver food and other necessities to hard-hit areas. She also offered her condolences to the victims and sympathy to their relatives, while urging those affected by the quake to take care of themselves under the hot weather.
− "The shaking reminded me of the Kumamoto quake (10 years ago) and I was frightened," said Hiroki Shimoda, an official at Mifune town hall, who saw roof tiles of nearby homes crash to the ground.
+ Bullet train services remained suspended.
+ Although operations at Aso Kumamoto Airport resumed Wednesday, some airlines canceled flights as a precautionary measure.
Kumamoto was hit with a deadly quake in 2016 that killed at least 50 people.
+ Japan is one of the most quake-prone nations in the world.
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