Japan's JMA Reports M7.1 Earthquake in Kumamoto, Maximum Intensity 7

Japan's Meteorological Agency reported a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu at 16:27 local time (07:27 UTC) on 28 July 2026. Shaking reached 7 on the agency's seismic intensity scale, the highest level it records.

What the JMA recorded

The agency put the epicentre near the city of Uki at 32.68°N, 130.72°E and the depth at about 10 kilometres, later revised to 16 kilometres. The United States Geological Survey recorded the same event at magnitude 6.8. According to the JMA, the rupture occurred on the Hinagu Fault and was a strike-slip movement; the shaking lasted roughly 16 seconds.

Intensity 7 was recorded in Uki and Hikawa. Intensity 6+ was observed in Kumamoto City's Minami ward, Yatsushiro, Uto, Misato and Mashiki, with weaker shaking felt across Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Saga, Fukuoka and Miyazaki prefectures. Instruments in the Toyono district of Uki measured a peak ground acceleration of 2,437 gal (about 2.49 g), exceeding the 1,791 gal recorded during the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. The agency also logged class 4, its highest category for long-period ground motion, for the Kumamoto region.

Tsunami advisory and aftershocks

A tsunami advisory was issued for the Ariake and Yatsushiro Seas, with waves of up to one metre considered possible. It was lifted about two hours later after no significant waves were observed. A magnitude 6.1 aftershock followed at 17:08 in the Amakusa and Ashikita area. More than 390 aftershocks were recorded in the following days, and the agency warned that tremors reaching intensity 7 were possible within two to three days.

Damage and disruption to industry

Figures compiled after the quake put the death toll at 38, with more than 368 people injured. Rescue teams worked at the sites of a chimney collapse at a paper mill in Yatsushiro and a partial collapse at a shopping centre in Kashima, among other locations. Power was cut to about 48,300 households in Kumamoto; supply was restored by 31 July.

Transport and manufacturing were heavily affected: Kumamoto Airport closed its runway for inspections and cancelled all domestic flights that day, and JR Kyushu suspended services on all of its lines, including the Kyushu Shinkansen. Sony halted work at its semiconductor plant in Kikuyo, while Renesas and Tokyo Electron stopped operations at their Kumamoto facilities; Toyota, Honda and Nissan also paused production at plants in Fukuoka and Oita. The JMA named the event the 2026 Kumamoto earthquake, and damage was later estimated at 738.2 million dollars.