An elderly woman in her 70s was found dead from apparent heat stroke while taking shelter in a car after a powerful magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday, July 29, 2026. Officials raised the death toll from the quake to 36 as of Sunday, August 2, 2026.
Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura described the death as "heartbreaking" and urged evacuees sheltering in their cars to keep refueling their vehicles to run air-conditioning or to consider moving to air-conditioned evacuation centers to avoid similar risks.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that temperatures in Kumamoto city reached 36.6°C on Saturday, August 1, 2026, and warned that temperatures could rise further on Sunday, August 2, 2026.
The earthquake also caused an explosion at AEON Mall in Kashima, Kumamoto Prefecture, believed to be due to a gas leak. About 3,000 shoppers had been evacuated to a parking lot following the quake, although some employees remained inside.
Authorities said the earthquake left 105 people injured in Kumamoto, with two additional deaths under investigation to determine if they were quake-related. Power loss reports have decreased to fewer than 900 households, and the local power company serving Kyushu reported no immediate outages.
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