People are being urged to stay alert, with earthquake aftershocks potentially reaching magnitude 7, officials say

A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday morning, causing damage to buildings and numerous injuries and deaths.

A powerful earthquake hit southern Japan, seriously damaging a shopping mall where there are reportedly many people trapped and some dead.

Rescue personnel are working to free those trapped in collapsed buildings after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto on Tuesday.

Almost no other country in the world is rocked by such frequent and damaging earthquakes as Japan, which sits on the boundary of four tectonic plates.

By Daniel Leussink and Anton Bridge TOKYO, July 29 (Reuters) - Japan's auto and chip manufacturers halted production on Wednesday at plants on the island of Kyushu struck by a deadly earthquake that disrupted operations in a region key to the supply chains of both industries.

Experts are also concerned. Shinji Kiyomoto of Japan's Meteorological Agency has asked the public to "remain vigilant" for further earthquakes, referencing 2016's deadly series of earthquakes, which struck days apart.

A residential building on fire after an earthquake struck Japan's southern Kumamoto prefecture, in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto prefecture, Japan, today.  Kyodo News via Reuters About 80 people hurt during the earthquake were being treated at the Yatsushiro Northern Regional Medical Center in Hikawa,

An earthquake registering a magnitude of 7.1 shook Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu and caused part of a shopping center to collapse on Tuesday.

A massive explosion ripped through Aeon Mall in Kumamoto just weeks after its grand reopening, leaving up to 30 employees unaccounted for.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the Japanese director known as “the master of horror,” was a bit nervous about how viewers might react to his first samurai film.