A 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture in southern Japan at about 4:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, killing several people, injuring at least 50, and damaging one of Japan's most celebrated landmarks (ABC News; Al Jazeera; NBC News).

The quake triggered a tsunami advisory for the Ariake and Yatsushiro Seas, which Japan's Meteorological Agency later lifted the same day, according to state broadcaster NHK (Reuters; NBC News). Japan uses two levels of tsunami alert: an advisory, the lower tier, and a warning, the higher. In this case, the advisory was the level issued and then withdrawn.

The earthquake's depth was about 10 kilometers, or just over six miles, making it a shallow event. Shallow quakes tend to produce more violent shaking at the surface. A Japan Meteorological Agency official warned that the tremors were occurring at shallow depths with frequent aftershocks, and urged the public to prepare for further shaking, building collapses, and landslides (NBC News).

At least 12 houses collapsed, and "quite a few" people were trapped inside a local shopping mall, according to NBC News reporting cited by Town & Country. The full extent of casualties was still being assessed.

Among the buildings damaged was Kumamoto Castle, a fortress built in 1607 by the general Kato Kiyomasa and described by the New York Times as "one of Japan's oldest, grandest and most renowned castles" (Town & Country). Video shared on social media captured sections of the castle's exterior stone walls collapsing during the quake. Castle management announced on social media that the site was closed for the day due to safety concerns.

This is not the first time Kumamoto Castle has taken a hit from the earth beneath it. A 6.4 magnitude earthquake in April 2016 also damaged the structure, and in 2022, Kumamoto City Mayor Onishi said full restoration and reconstruction from that earlier event would not be complete for decades. Tuesday's quake adds fresh damage to a site still mid-repair.

The Japan Meteorological Agency's public earthquake portal listed at least 27 tremors in Kumamoto Prefecture on July 28 alone, recorded between 13:08 and 15:36 JST. The epicenters fell across two regions: the Kumamoto Region and the Amakusa and Ashikita Region, both within Kumamoto Prefecture (JMA). The portal uses Japan's "shindo" seismic intensity scale, which measures local shaking rather than total energy released and ranges from 0 to 7; observed intensities on the July 28 listing ranged from 1 to 4.

The JMA's multi-language portal, which provides earthquake data to the public, showed the largest magnitude event on its July 28 listing as a 4.8 at 14:02 JST, a smaller reading than the 7.1 reported by international agencies. The JMA portal was published with an unknown date and may not reflect the full event catalog for the day.

Japan sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and experiences roughly 1,500 earthquakes per year, though most cause no damage. Kumamoto Prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu, was the epicenter of a devastating 7.0 quake in April 2016 that killed dozens and caused widespread destruction.