34 People Confirmed Dead after Kumamoto Quake

Kumamoto, July 30 (Jiji Press)–The number of deaths confirmed after Tuesday’s powerful earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, reached 34 as of 3 p.m. on Thursday, while five people were seriously injured, according to the prefecture’s disaster response headquarters. The full extent of the damage from the 7.1-magnitude quake, which measured up to the maximum seismic intensity level of 7 on the Japanese scale, remains unclear as searches for missing individuals continue. Meanwhile, nearly 10,000 people have been forced to stay in evacuation shelters amid the summer heat. At a government meeting in Tokyo on Thursday, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that the government will set up a local headquarters at the Kumamoto prefectural office. “We will make a united effort based on needs,” Takaichi said. According to the prefecture, the 34 deaths included 11 in the city of Yatsushiro, seven in the town of Kashima, four in the town of Hikawa, two in the city of Uki, and one in the town of Kosa, as well as nine other deaths that are under investigation for possible links to the earthquake. The seven victims in Kashima were workers at Aeon Mall Kumamoto, which was hit by an explosion after the earthquake, and among 12 people who have been pulled from the rubble so far. In Yatsushiro, 10 people were found at Nippon Paper Industries Co.’s damaged plant, where a chimney collapsed following the quake, and eight of them were pronounced dead. Another person is still believed to be missing there. Authorities have confirmed destroyed houses and damaged bridges in severely affected areas, but the full extent of the damage remains unknown. A total of 9,450 people were reportedly staying at 406 evacuation centers. As temperatures reached around 35 degrees Celsius in several parts of the prefecture on Thursday and are forecast to remain around that level for days, the prefectural government will install portable air conditioners at evacuation centers and welfare facilities in cooperation with the Self-Defense Forces. Essential utility services remained disrupted, with at least 79,700 households lacking water in the cities of Kumamoto, Uki, Uto, Yatsushiro and Hikawa and about 12,000 households lacking electricity in Uki, Yatsushiro and Hikawa. Medical facilities in Uki, Yatsushiro and Mifune were also affected. Disaster medical assistance team, or DMAT, members have been dispatched from outside the prefecture. On Tuesday, the earthquake occurred at around 4:27 p.m., measuring the top intensity of 7 in Uki and Hikawa, and upper 6, the second-highest level, in Yatsushiro, the city of Kumamoto and others. In April 2016, Kumamoto was hit by two successive massive quakes each registering the intensity of 7. The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned that another quake that could measure around 7 may strike within about one week of Tuesday’s quake. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]