Kumamoto Quake Victims Mourned 10 Years On

Mashiki, Kumamoto Pref., April 14 (Jiji Press)–People on Tuesday paid tribute to the victims of a pair of powerful earthquakes that struck mainly Kumamoto Prefecture 10 years ago. In the town of Mashiki in the southwestern Japan prefecture, its mayor, Hironori Nishimura, and other officials offered flowers at an altar set up near the municipal office building and gave silent prayers to those who lost their lives in the disaster. Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the foreshock that occurred April 14, 2016. The main quake struck two days later. The foreshock, with a magnitude of 6.5, registered 7, the highest level on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, in Mashiki. The 7.3-magnitude main shock did so in the town and the nearby village of Nishihara in the same prefecture. It was the first time since the start of earthquake observation in Japan that the intensity level of 7 had been registered twice in sequential seismic activities in the same region. In Mashiki, deaths totaled 45 in the disaster, including people who died due to indirect causes. Ninety-eight pct of the housing in the town suffered damage, with 6,259 homes destroyed or heavily damaged. The number of residents who were evacuated to shelters peaked at some 16,000. All damaged public facilities in Mashiki were restored by the end of March last year. A prefectural road that had been blocked by collapsed houses to hinder evacuation and rescue activities at the time of the disaster was reopened last month after refurbishment work. The Kumamoto prefectural government’s 28-hectare land readjustment project in Mashiki, which is part of the efforts to build disaster-resilient communities, is scheduled for completion in March 2028. The April 2016 quakes claimed the lives of a total of 278 people in Kumamoto and neighboring Oita Prefecture, including deaths from indirect causes. In Kumamoto, up to about 183,800 people were evacuated to shelters simultaneously. The number of people who were forced to live in temporary housing and other facilities peaked at about 47,800, from 20,255 households. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]