Tokyo, 31 July 2026
Rescue workers in southwestern Japan's Kumamoto region were searching on Friday for at least one person still missing after an earthquake killed 23 people and injured scores more, with authorities warning that hopes of finding additional survivors were fading.
Yatsushiro factory bears the brunt
The Kumamoto prefectural government disaster team said that at the Nippon Paper Industries factory site in Yatsushiro, 10 people had been rescued, eight had died, and one remained unaccounted for. The tally, corroborated by three sources, highlights how a single industrial site accounted for nearly half of the reported fatalities in the region.
Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara gave a higher provisional figure of 28 deaths, based on a police count that included cases still under investigation. The discrepancy reflects the evolving nature of the search and the time authorities require to confirm individual identities and circumstances.
The earthquake struck Kumamoto, a prefecture on the island of Kyushu that has long been accustomed to seismic activity. Local emergency services, joined by national rescue teams, have been working through damaged infrastructure to reach isolated communities, though officials cautioned that the operation was approaching its most difficult phase.
Rescue operation enters critical phase
A spokesperson for the prefectural disaster team said the focus had shifted from large-scale urban searches to targeted operations, including the site of the collapsed paper factory. Rescuers were using heavy equipment, sniffer dogs and acoustic detection gear in an effort to locate the remaining missing worker.
Survivors at the Yatsushiro site described scenes of confusion as the tremor hit. Workers who escaped said parts of the structure had buckled within seconds, trapping colleagues under debris. Emergency medical teams treated the injured at the scene before transferring the most serious cases to hospitals in Kumamoto city.
Japanese authorities have repeatedly stressed that the first 72 hours after a major earthquake are critical for survival. With that window now passed for many of the affected areas, officials acknowledged that the chances of pulling additional people alive from the rubble were diminishing sharply.
Government mobilizes aid and reconstruction funds
The Kumamoto prefectural government has opened evacuation centers in public buildings and schools, and has been coordinating with the Self-Defense Forces to deliver water, food and blankets to displaced residents. Power outages and disrupted water supplies remained a concern in several municipalities.
Prime Minister's Office officials said the government was preparing a supplementary budget to support reconstruction in the affected areas. Local businesses, including agricultural producers in Kumamoto known for rice and fruit, have reported significant losses from both the shaking and the secondary damage to roads and warehouses.
Kumamoto has been struck by powerful earthquakes before, notably in 2016, when a series of tremors killed more than 260 people across Kyushu. The memory of that disaster has shaped the region's preparedness, with drills and reinforced building codes credited with limiting the scale of casualties this time, officials said.
Echoes of the 2016 Kumamoto disaster
Rescue teams from neighboring prefectures, as well as from overseas partners, have offered assistance. The Cabinet Office said it was coordinating offers of help and assessing whether additional international search-and-rescue teams were needed as operations continued into a second night of intensive work.
Akiko Inazaki, a regional spokesperson quoted in local media, urged residents to remain cautious about aftershocks, structural damage and the risk of landslides in mountainous areas. "Please continue to follow the guidance of local authorities and stay away from damaged buildings," she said.
As night fell on Kumamoto, searchlights swept across the factory site in Yatsushiro and other affected locations. Families of the missing gathered at nearby community centers, awaiting word from the rescue teams, as officials prepared to update the public on the operation's progress on Saturday morning.