A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Kyushu island at 4:27 p.m. on Tuesday, registering maximum intensity 7 on the Japanese shindo scale. Verified reports confirm one death from building collapse near the epicenter, an explosion at Aeon Mall Kumamoto likely from a gas leak that killed two women in their 20s, and two workers found in cardiac arrest at a Yatsushiro paper mill. The Japanese military deployed 3,600 personnel and 20 aircraft while nearly 50,000 households lost power and 140,000 lost water.