Kumamoto, Japan — Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan. Journalists gather outside the damaged Aeon Mall Kumamoto, in Kashima, Japan, July 29, 2026, after an earthquake struck southwest Japan the previous day. This aerial image shows the damaged AEON Mall after an earthquake in Kashima, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, Tuesday, July 28, 2026. Part of the compound of the Shohinken garden is seen damaged in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, July 29, 2026, after an earthquake struck the area the day before. JIJI Press/AFP/GettyNearly 34,900 homes were still without electricity and some 15,000 homes were without running water, Kumamoto officials said.