Japan quake death toll reaches 13 while wildfires force mass evacuations in Europe

Search and rescue operations continue in Japan's Kumamoto prefecture following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that killed at least 13 people and displaced more than 9,000 residents. Emergency personnel remain focused on locating missing individuals at a collapsed shopping mall in Kashima and a destroyed paper mill, with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirming severe structural and infrastructure damage.

Simultaneously, uncontrolled wildfires are expanding across southern Europe. Severe blazes near Madrid have contributed to what authorities describe as the largest wildfire in Spain's history. In France, officials deployed military aircraft and distributed 1.5 million FFP2 masks as flames advanced toward Bordeaux, prompting 140,000 evacuations in the Gironde region. High winds in Greece also forced preventive evacuations across nine villages on the island of Paros. Outlets report total European displacement between 260,000 and 300,000 people. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez stated that "the priority is saving lives."

Sources: Corriere della Sera, Il Messaggero.