About Kumamoto Earthquake
1 Overview of the earthquake
The 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake was an earthquake with an intensity of seven (on the Japanese scale of one to seven) that occurred twice in the same area within 28 hours for the first time in observation record.
The number of earthquakes with an intensity of one or more has exceeded 4,400 (as of April 30, 2018). The earthquake activity that continued long-term caused long-lasting evacuation and increased the number of evacuees who took shelter outside of evacuation sites, including evacuees staying overnights in the cars.
| Foreshock | Main shock | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date and time of occurrence | April 14, 2016 at 21:26 | April 16, 2016 at 1:25 | |
| Epicenter | Kumamoto-prefecture Kumamoto region | same as on the left | |
| Magnitude | M6.5 | M7.3 | |
| Municipalities in which there were earthquakes with an intensity of lower six or higher | Intensity of seven | Mashiki Town | Mashiki Town, Nishihara Village |
| Intensity of upper six | none | Kumamoto City, Kikuchi City, Uto City, Uki City, Koshi City, Ozu Town, Kashima Town, Minami Aso Village | |
| Intensity of lower six | 5 cities, towns, and villages | 11 cities and towns | |
2 Damage situation
The Kumamoto Earthquake caused great damage, including the collapsing of houses and landslides, to Kumamoto prefecture, centering around Kumamoto City, the Kamimashiki region, and the Aso region.
Approximately 270 people lost their lives to the earthquake, including those classified as disaster related deaths. A total of 2,737 people were injured.
About 198,000 homes were damaged and there was tremendous damage to the infrastructure supporting the daily lives of the citizens. Main roads, such as the National Highway No. 57 and National Highway No. 325 Aso Ohashi, were torn apart, gas supplies were stopped, power and water outages and communication disconnection also occurred.
The cost of the damage to the prefecture is estimated to be about 3.8 trillion yen, according to the data released by the prefecture and related organizations.
| Human damage | The number of people |
|---|---|
| Deceased | 273 people |
| Direct death by earthquake…50 people | |
| Disaster related death…218 people | |
| Disaster related death caused by the heavy rain that occurred in June 2016…5 people | |
| Injured | 2,735 people |
| Dwelling damage | The number of damaged buildings |
|---|---|
| Completely collapsed | 8,642 buildings |
| Half collapsed | 34,393 buildings |
| Partially collapsed | 155,203 buildings |
| Total | 198,238 buildings |
| Category | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Buildings (Housing-related) | 2 trillion 37.7 billion yen | Housing, household property, residential land |
| Water supply facilities | 11.9 billion yen | Water supply, simple water supply, industrial water supply |
| Electricity / gas facilities | 28 billion yen | Electricity, gas supply facilities etc. |
| Medical / welfare facilities | 75.8 billion yen | Medical facilities, social welfare facilities, etc. |
| Public civil engineering facilities | 268.5 billion yen | Roads, bridges, rivers, coasts, harbors, sewers, etc. |
| Highways | 34.2 billion yen | Kyushu Expressway etc. |
| Educational facilities (excluding cultural property) | 94.4 billion yen | School, social education facilities etc. |
| Other public facilities etc. | 73.6 billion yen | Prefectural facilities, municipal office buildings etc. |
| Public Transportation | 8.6 billion yen | Train, bus (except Minami Aso railway, airport building) |
| Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | 148.7 billion yen | Agricultural land, agricultural facilities, agricultural and forestry fishery products, hillside collapse etc. |
| Commerce and Industry | 820 billion yen | Buildings, equipment, etc. |
| Cultural properties | 93.6 billion yen | Nationally designated, prefectural designated, municipally designated and undesignated cultural properties |
| Waste disposal facilities | 90 billion yen | Waste disposal facilities, waste disposal expenses |
| Total | 3 trillion 785 billion yen |