Over 7,500 in Shelters 1 Week after Kumamoto Quake

Kumamoto, Aug. 4 (Jiji Press)–More than 7,500 people remained at evacuation shelters in Kumamoto Prefecture as of Tuesday, a week after the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that damaged over 13,000 residential buildings in the southwestern Japan prefecture. Daytime temperatures exceed 35 degrees Celsius in hot summer weather in the prefecture, raising health concerns for evacuees and others affected by the July 28 quake, which registered up to 7, the highest level on Japan’s seismic intensity scale. According to the Kumamoto prefectural government’s disaster response headquarters, the death toll from the earthquake stood at 38 as of 6 p.m. Tuesday. Of the total, one person is believed to have died from heatstroke, and the case is suspected to be a death linked to the disaster because the individual was staying in a vehicle after evacuating. The cause of another death is being investigated. Seven people died in an explosion that occurred at the Aeon Mall Kumamoto shopping facility in the town of Kashima shortly after the temblor, while nine lost their lives at Nippon Paper Industries Co.’s plant in the city of Yatsushiro, where a chimney collapsed due to the quake. A total of 7,538 people were staying at 140 evacuation centers as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, decreasing from the peak number of 10,467 at 415 shelters on Thursday, two days after the quake struck. Still, the number of evacuees staying in their cars or self-evacuating outside official shelters was not accounted for. Meanwhile, a total of 13,690 residential buildings have been confirmed damaged, with 1,744 of them destroyed or heavily damaged and 6,068 partially damaged. The number of damaged houses has so far reached to 4,600 in the city of Uki, 2,500 in the city of Yatsushiro and 1,261 in the town of Hikawa. Water outages continued to affect some 44,380 homes in four municipalities, including Yatsushiro and Uki, as of Tuesday morning. Water service was restored in the prefecture’s namesake capital city Monday. At a press conference on Tuesday, Shigeki Aoki, director of the Japan Meteorological Agency’s Earthquake and Volcanic Engineering Affairs Division, said that a week after the quake which registered the maximum intensity of 7, seismic activity along the causative fault, the Hinagu fault zone, “is gradually decreasing overall, but remains active.” Aoki called on people in the affected areas to “remain alert for potential earthquakes measuring upper 5 or higher (on the Japanese scale) over the coming week.” The mercury has topped 35 degrees in the prefecture every day since the quake, with the city of Kumamoto and another city logging their first-ever “kokushobi,” or a brutally hot day of 40 degrees or higher, on Monday. In the prefecture, the number of people sent to hospital due to heatstroke increased to 309 in the week that ended on Sunday from 89 in the previous week, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday. Additionally, Typhoon Dolphin, the 13th typhoon of the year, is forecast to bring strong winds and increase the risk of landslides in the quake-affected areas from Thursday to Aug. 11. The typhoon is also expected to bring hot and humid air, keeping the daily maximum temperature around 35 degrees and nighttime temperatures above 25 degrees, according to Ryuji Nagayama, director of the JMA’s Weather Consultation Office. In an effort to prevent disaster-related deaths, the prefectural government and others are working to improve conditions at evacuation sites. The prefecture started accepting applications for evacuations to hotels and other lodging facilities on Monday, while construction of temporary housing began the same day in Uki and Hikawa, both of which experienced the top intensity of 7. Tourism in the prefecture has also been impacted by the earthquake. According to a prefectural government survey, accommodation facilities received cancellations of bookings for about 65,500 guests over four days from July 28, with the amount of the canceled reservations totaling some 900 million yen. Meanwhile, support for the prefecture is growing, with contributions under the nation’s “furusato nozei” tax incentive-backed donation program reaching 730 million yen. Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura expressed gratitude for such support on Monday and said that the prefecture will continue to strengthen assistance to those affected by the disaster. Soon after the quake occurred, the Japanese government started to provide relief goods before receiving requests for help from affected local communities under the so-called push-type assistance scheme, in order to deal with the sweltering heat. The Self-Defense Forces began supplying water to affected areas on the morning of the day after the quake and have delivered about 300 air conditioners. The government also distributed mobile power supply vehicles and makeshift showers. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has instructed her government to make every effort to supply gasoline to evacuees forced to stay in their cars. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference Monday that the government has secured up to quadruple the ordinary fuel supply capacity. The government is prioritizing a swift response to the quake, with a source close to the prime minister saying that aid is being provided proactively. However, there have been reports that supplies sent under the push-type system have not reached those needing help, prompting the government to work on resolving aid distribution bottlenecks mainly through its local disaster response headquarters. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]