April 15, 2016 Earthquake: Kumamoto, Oita, Japan

At least 40 people killed, 2,021 injured, 12,550 houses damaged or destroyed and 445 public buildings damaged or destroyed in Kumamoto and Oita. The Aso Shrine and Kumamoto Castle were heavily damaged. The Aso Ohashi bridge in Minamiaso collapsed into the Kurokawa River from a quake-triggered landslide. The Kyushu Shinkansen train service was suspended after a train derailed. Roads cracked, water lines were damaged and power outages occurred. Surface faulting observed in a zone about 34 km long with a maximum offset of about 2.2 m. Damage estimated at 12 billion US dollars. Felt (VIII) at Kumamoto. Felt throughout Kyushu. Felt (IV) at Osaka and (III) at Hiroshima, Honshu. Felt in Chiba, Hyogo, Nara, Shimane, Tokyo and Yamaguchi. Also felt in Ehime, Shikoku. Felt (III) at Busan, South Korea. Felt in many parts of South Korea. Also felt at Suzhou, China. Recorded (6U JMA) in Kumamoto. Recorded (5L JMA) in Ehime, Shikoku and (4 JMA) in Hiroshima, Shimane, Tottori and Yamaguchi, Honshu. Mashiki, Kumamoto, Japan - CDI: 9; Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan - CDI: 8; Uto, Kumamoto, Japan - CDI: 7; Beppu, Oita, Japan - CDI: 7; Yatsushiro, Kumamoto, Japan - CDI: 7 (ref #13456)

As a new week began, at least nine people remained missing in southern Japan following two powerful earthquakes that killed 42 people […] officials say that as many as 1,500 have been injured and 180,000 are without shelter... The latest tremor occurred at 1:25 a.m. local time (12:25 p.m. EDT Friday) at a depth of 6.2 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. According to local police, Saturday's quake killed 32 people. The quake's epicenter was in Kumamoto prefecture just miles from the location of Thursday's temblor that killed nine people and left more than 800 injured. An aftershock measuring 5.4 hit southern Kyushu island on Saturday morning. (ref #11530)

The economic impact of the earthquakes in southwestern Japan this April is estimated at 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion), judging by sources including the government of hardest-hit Kumamoto Prefecture. In Kumamoto and neighboring Oita Prefecture, damage to the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sector is estimated at 135.4 billion yen. Damage to transportation infrastructure, including highways and bridges, is seen totaling 320 billion yen. More than 80,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, and 10,000-plus people remain in evacuation centers and other temporary housing. (ref #11513)

In April 2016, a series of earthquakes occurred on the Futagawa-Hinagu fault zone in Kyushu island. The mainshock was a strike slip event (15 April 2016, 16:25:06, USGS PDE catalog, Mw = 7.0 GCMT) and was preceded by many foreshocks including two Mw ≥6.0 events. These major foreshocks (14 April 2016, 12:26:40, Mw = 6.2, and 14 April 2016, 15:04:60, Mw = 6.0 GCMT) occurred on a subvertical fault plane dipping slightly to the east. The mainshock occurred 25 h after the second major foreshock on a different fault plane dipping (77° GCMT) to the northwest (Figure 1). The focal mechanism of the mainshock is dominated by strike-slip motion, with an approximately 30% of normal slip component (strike/dip/rake: 222°/77°/-161°, GCMT; Ekstrom et al., 2012). (ref #12069)

20 billion USD in damages (ref #1250)

25-30 billion USD in damages, 137 dead, 2054 injured, 162,969 building damaged, 8,549 buildings destroyed. Note: includes impacts from earthquakes from 14 to 16 April. (ref #13215)

38 billion USD in economic loss (ref #13727)

273 deaths; 2809 injuries. Homes: 8667 complete destruction, 34719 partial destruction, 163500 damaged, 114 inundation above floor, 156 inundation below floor(ref #13728)