Play store
Almost no other country in the world is rocked by such frequent and damaging earthquakes as Japan – an island nation that sits on the boundary of four tectonic plates, the constantly-shifting slabs of the Earth’s crust.
It also lies on the “Ring of Fire,” a 25,000-mile arc that stretches around the Pacific, where the world’s most active volcanoes are located – and the most earthquakes take place.
The impact of these quakes was on full display this week after a deadly 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture, prompting thousands of emergency responders to mobilize in search, rescue and relief efforts.
Officials said 34 people had died, but noted that figure includes some deaths where a link to the earthquake was yet to be confirmed, public broadcaster NHK reported Thursday.
Japan is well-prepared for disasters like these, having invested billions of dollars into cutting-edge quake detection technology, response and evacuation systems, and quake-proof infrastructure.
For residents, quakes are a regular part of life – children start practicing earthquake and evacuation drills from kindergarten. But the threat looms large in the public imagination, especially with the government regularly warning that Japan could eventually see a once-in-a-century “megathrust earthquake.”
The Tuesday’s earthquake hit around 4:30pm local time in Uki, a city with a population of 56,000 people, south of the Kumamoto prefecture.
A wave of aftershocks has struck since, with the strongest measured at 5.4-magnitude further south, according to USGS, as authorities warn that similarly strong tremors could shake the region in coming days.
Rescuers are still working to locate people trapped beneath the rubble – the quake brought down buildings and a shopping mall in Kumamoto was partially destroyed after a suspected gas leak and explosion.
Five died in Aeon Mall Kumamoto, while several others were killed when a chimney collapsed at a paper factory in Yatsushiro.
High temperatures are making the rescue efforts increasingly difficult. Authorities have warned residents about the dangers of heatstroke and are reminding people to stay hydrated. Temperatures are expected to pass 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) from Thursday.
“For those who are waiting for aid, we will be devoting our full efforts to rescue activities and aid,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Thursday, adding she’s doing her best to restore electricity in areas affected.
The Kumamoto region had just recovered from a larger quake that hit in 2016, causing widespread damage and killing more than 270 people.
“Why? Why does this keep happening around us here in Kumamoto?” local resident Shoji Yonemitsu told CNN.
“The shaking back then was on a whole different level. But yesterday’s quake was still pretty terrifying,” he said.
Japan began introducing stronger building codes in the 1980s – which demonstrated their effectiveness in the 1995 Kobe earthquake, which killed more than 6,000 people. Nearly all of the collapsed buildings were built prior to the new codes, kickstarting a major drive to improve the country’s quake resilience, emergency response systems, and retrofitting older buildings with new standards.
As one of the world’s wealthiest nations, Japan was in a strong position to embrace technology and spending to fortify itself against the threat of tectonic catastrophes.
But technology can only go so far.
The 2011 Tohoku disaster is the worst in living memory – a magnitude-9.1 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the Fukushima nuclear meltdown and killed nearly 20,000 people. Thousands more were never found. It remains one of the strongest quakes of this century.
Smaller quakes can still routinely bring death; a magnitude-7.1 earthquake killed more than 700 in Noto in 2024, western Japan.
Other countries such as Chile, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands, and the west coast of the United States all lie on the “Ring of Fire” on either side of the Pacific Ocean. It’s where the Pacific Plate – the oceanic plate that lies beneath the water – meets surrounding continental tectonic plates. When these plates move against each other and produce friction, energy builds up and is released through earthquakes.