Rescuers pulled all 25 cats unharmed from a collapsed shopping centre in Kumamoto following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck southern Japan on Tuesday. The cats were inside Cat Cafe MOFF on the ground floor of Aeon Mall Kumamoto when the quake hit and a subsequent gas-leak explosion damaged the building.
The cafe manager retrieved every cat safely on Wednesday after receiving clearance from firefighters and police. None of the animals sustained visible injuries, and all were given water and initial care before being transported to a sister cafe in Hiroshima operated by the same owners.
The earthquake, which hit Kyushu on Tuesday afternoon, killed at least 34 people across the region. Three bodies were recovered from the mall rubble, while five people were pulled alive from the same site.