28 July 2026: Reuters report that an earthquake on magnitude 7.1 hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday 28 July, at 07.27 GMT (16.27 local time). This quake caused damage at the Nippon Paper Yatsushiro Plant, where two people were found in cardiac arrest, and as of 17.41 BST, nine people were reported missing at the plant. A chimney at the mill site is reported to have collapsed.

The Yatsushiro mill makes printing grades, newsprint and information papers. It ran four machines until last year when the N2 paper machine (capacity 232,000tpy of newsprint) was closed, as was a coal-fired boiler. The company was planning to introduce tissue manufacture to the site in early 2027, although that, presumably, will now be delayed.