We have spent the morning writing the report and choosing photographs. Here are the first about Mashiki Town.
On Monday, 4/18, we drove from Fukuoka to Mashiki Town, where some of the heaviest damage took place. Mashiki Town is located in a valley east of Kumamoto. We drove into the valley from the Kumamoto Airport and entered Mashiki through Kami Upper Valley Village. The damage was severe. Here the fault ruptured the surface and the ground motion was about 1.4 g.
Here is the fault at the east end of the valley.
More tomorrow: Pater Yanev’s report on Tsumori Elementary School and Koji Okumura’s report on the geology and the shaking.