Rescue effort ends at collapsed Aeon Mall after deadly Kumamoto quake

A five-day search-and-rescue operation at the Aeon Mall in Kashima, Kumamoto, was officially ended Saturday after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Kyushu on Tuesday, collapsing the mall’s second floor and triggering a gas-leak explosion. The blast occurred after roughly 3,000 shoppers had been moved to a parking lot, though some staff stayed inside; rescuers pulled five people from the rubble and retrieved seven bodies, and officials now say no one remains missing at the site.

The wider disaster left 34 dead across the prefecture, with 103 injured and many still unaccounted for, prompting the deployment of thousands of Self-Defense Forces personnel, police, rescue teams and sniffer dogs. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, speaking at a government task force, stressed that rescue crews must not abandon any victims. In another heavily damaged location, a chimney collapse at a Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro trapped 11 employees, resulting in nine deaths. The quake has also caused severe water shortages for about 70,000 homes, fuel scarcities, and extreme heat reaching 36.6 °C, forcing more than 9,000 people into crowded shelters with limited sanitation.