British professor uses past quake lessons to aid Kumamoto during 7.1 tremor

A magnitude-7.1 earthquake rattled Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday, prompting Andrew Mitchell, a 41-year-old assistant professor of sociology at Kumamoto University, to draw on lessons from the 2016 quakes that claimed over 270 lives. While his apartment shook, he instinctively ducked under his desk, covered his feet with thick socks, and turned off the gas, then posted verified evacuation details to a 400-member online community of international students and residents.

Mitchell recalled his own confusion as a doctoral student in 2016, when language barriers left him uncertain about evacuation commands. After the recent shock, he emphasized the need for accurate, multilingual information, noting that many foreign residents struggled during the earlier disaster. He continues to disseminate safety guidance through the Kumamoto Earthquake Experience Project, a group he co-founded after 2016, which also conducts lectures across Japan. Mitchell stresses that preparedness, not prediction, is key to saving lives and urges collective support for Kumamoto’s recovery.