Around 300,000 people were instructed to go to evacuation centers, Japan’s disaster management agency said, after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture.
The quake’s epicentre was about 20 kilometres south of Kumamoto, central Kyushu island’s largest city with a population of around 700,000. In “Kashima town, a shopping complex’s second floor collapsed, leaving many people trapped inside,” the local fire department said in a statement.
Residents in the areas that felt the biggest tremors must beware of further strong quakes for about a week, as well as the risk of landslides, an official for the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
According to news reports, the UN nuclear watchdog said that Japan’s nuclear regulation authority has informed it that there is no damage or safety issues at the Sendai nuclear power plant which sits in Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture.
The tremor measured at the highest possible level seven on Japan’s Shindo scale of shaking, the Meteorological Agency said. While the agency initially issued a tsunami warning for a wave measuring one metre, it has since rescinded that.
In 2016, Kumamoto was hit by two devastating earthquakes – one of magnitude 6.5, followed by one of magnitude 7.3 two days later – which killed 273 people and injured over 2,800 others.
Comment from Russell
James Banasik, Russell’s Head of Connected Risk said:
“Earthquakes have the ability not just to shake the ground that people walk on, but shake up financial markets, shopping centre investors, power generation companies as well as entire districts of residential and commercial property. The financial ripple effects can spread far and wide, which is why, along with hurricanes and now wildfires, insurers and corporates have tuned into the wider connected risk of such events. The added danger is that Japan is already experiencing currency as well stock market volatility this week so these events like this earthquake only add to investor fears. That is why insurers, reinsurers and corporates are beginning to invest in a more diverse range of human intelligence and data capabilities to join the dots in connected risk.”
