Damage Situation after the 2016
Kumamoto Earthquakes
Japan Fire and Disaster Prevention Association

Overview of the Earthquake
At 21:26 on April 14 (Thu.), a magnitude
6.5 earthquake occurred, centered in theKumamoto
areaofKumamoto
Prefecture at a depth of 11 kilometers. Aseismic intensity of 7 was registered in
Mashiki Town, Kumamoto Prefecture.
Then at 01:25 on April 16 (Sat.), amagnitude 7.3 earthquake occurred,
also centered in the Kumamoto area ofKumamoto Prefecture at a depth of 12kilometers. The same seismic intensityof 7 was registered in Nishihara Village
andMashiki
Town,
Kumamoto
Prefecture. A magnitude of 7.3 is thesame as the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake in 1995. Another larger,
active-fault earthquake occurred after anearthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 ormore for the first time since 1885, whenearthquake observation began in Japan.
It was also the first time that a seismic
intensity of 7 was registered twice insuccession.
The foreshock on April 14 was causedby activity along the northern edge of theHinagu fault zone, while the earthquake
in the early hours of April 16 was causedby activity in the Futagawa fault zone.
These two earthquakes are seen as
continuous earthquakes that occurredwith the adjacent two linked fault zones.
In addition, after the main shock on April
16, aftershocks occurred one after theother between the Aso area inKumamoto Prefecture, located in thenortheast of the Kumamoto area inKumamoto Prefecture, and western Oita

Prefecture as well as in central Oita
Prefecture. Active seismic activity wasdetected in these three areas including
the Kumamoto area.
From 21:00 on April 14 until May 31,1,613 earthquakes that could be felt witha seismic intensity of 1 or more wereobserved in the Kumamoto area and theAso area of Kumamoto Prefecture, as
well as western and central Oita
Prefecture. Of these, there were 369
earthquakes with a seismic intensity of 3or more up until May 31. These
earthquakes occurred at a pace which
exceeded the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake (1995) and the 2004
Chuetsu Earthquake.
Damage situation○ Casualties
In this series of earthquakes, a total of
49 deaths were confirmed as caused bybeing buried under a collapsed house or
being caught in a landslide, and one
person was reported missing inKumamoto Prefecture. Out of the 49
deaths, 37 deaths were caused by thecollapse of houses and 9 deaths werecaused by landslide disasters. In
addition, there were 1,663 injured
persons, and these injuries occurred not
only in Kumamoto and Oita Prefectures
but also in Fukuoka, Miyazaki and Saga
Prefectures.

(persons)Serious
SlightPrefecture
Deathsinjuries
injuries
Fukuoka
117Saga49Kumamoto
49333
1,263
Oita424
Miyazaki35
Total493451,318(Fire and Disaster Management Agency: FDMA,
as of 09:30 on May 31, cumulative totals from
April 14)

○ Casualties including
earthquake-related deaths andinjuries associated with evacuation,etc.
As of May 31, there were 20 deaths
caused by festering disaster injuries or
diseases caused by the physical burden
after the Earthquake (in Kumamoto
Prefecture). In addition, there were 140
persons with injury whose degree was
yet to be determined (in Kumamoto
Prefecture).
There was a peak of 183,882 evacuees
after the earthquake in the early hours ofApril 16. As of 12:00 on April 19, there
was a total number of roughly 116,900
evacuees in Kumamoto Prefecture, and812 in Oita Prefecture.
○ Damage to buildings and facilities
According to an FDMA announcement,
as of 09:30 on May 31, there were 6,990
fully-destroyedhouses,
20,219half-destroyed houses, and 85,635
partially-damaged houses. In addition,
damage was confirmed to 241 publicbuildings.
Damage to houses was concentrated on
old wooden houses built in and before
1981, when the Building Standards Act
was amended. The heavy roof tiles usedfor most houses in Kyushu to prevent
typhoon damage also multiplied thedamage.

○ Function
relocation
government officesoflocal

The functions of the following municipal
offices in Kumamoto Prefecture wererelocated out of the damaged or
destroyed government office buildings:
 Yatsushiro City: To Sencho branch
office Hitoyoshi City: To the annex to thegovernment office building, Sports
Palace and Culture Palace Uto City: To a civic gymnasium Ozu Town: To a nearby municipal
facility Mashiki Town: To the central
community center○ Damage to educational facilities
According to information from 09:00 on
May 26 from the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology,
broken braces, ceilings, glass and pipes,
and cracked walls were found at 15
national school facilities, 684 publicschool facilities, 241 private school
facilities, 393 social education, sports orculture facilities and 148 cultural assets
in the six prefectures of Kyushu
excluding Kagoshima, and stone walls
collapsed at Kumamoto Castle.
○ Impact estimates on social capital,houses and private company facilities
In the Cabinet Office announcement on
May 23, the damage to houses, factories,roads, etc. was estimated at approx.
1.8–3.8 trillion yen in Kumamoto
Prefecture, and 0.5–0.8 trillion yen in
Oita Prefecture.
As a breakdown, damage to buildings
including houses and company facilities
amounted to approx. 1.6–3.1 trillion yen,damage to social infrastructure including
roads and airports amounted to approx.
0.4–0.7 trillion yen, damage to electricity,gas, and water and sewerage utilitiesamounted to approx. 0.1 trillion yen, anddamage to other social capital including
Kumamoto Castle and parks amountedto approx. 0.4–0.7 trillion yen.

In Tateno in Minamiaso Village,Kumamoto Prefecture, the Aso Ohashi
Bridge collapsed near the junction ofRoute 57 and Route 325 due to alarge-scale landslide.

○ Landslide disasters
Landslide disasters caused by theEarthquake and confirmed up until May
27 by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism were as follows:
57 debris flows (54 in Kumamoto and 3in Oita), 9 landslides (in Kumamoto), 70
slope failures (1 in Saga, 1 in Nagasaki,
41 in Kumamoto, 5 in Oita, 11 inMiyazaki and 1 in Kagoshima).

○ Others
The lives of local residents weresignificantly affected by the enormous
damage to the railways including theKyushu Shinkansen and roads including
Route 57, as well as damage to lifelines
including water failures affecting up to445,857 households, power outages
affecting up to 477,000 households andgas supply interruptions affecting up to105,000 households.

Housing damage (houses)
Prefecture
Fully-destroyed Half-destroyed Partially-damaged
Yamaguchi
Fukuoka
Saga
Nagasaki
Kumamoto
Oita
Miyazaki
Total

16,98826,99020,15462
220,2193230
1183,033
2,347
2085,635

Non-housing
damage (buildings)
PublicOthersbuildings

Fires

1
2241

783
15

16

241

80116