Kumamoto Quake-Affected People Warned of Approaching Typhoon

Kumamoto, Aug. 5 (Jiji Press)–Over 7,100 people remained at evacuation centers in Kumamoto Prefecture as of Wednesday, eight days after a massive earthquake struck the southwestern Japan prefecture. The prefectural government and others have urged those living in their cars or staying in their own homes after the 7.1-magnitude temblor to be wary of Typhoon Dolphin, which is forecast to approach the prefecture by the weekend. On Wednesday afternoon, the 13th typhoon of the season was traveling in a westerly direction east of the main island of the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, with a central atmospheric pressure of 945 hectopascals and a maximum wind speed of 45 meters per second. The strong typhoon is expected to cross the East China Sea after approaching the Okinawa main island on Friday. Also on Wednesday, the large ferry Hakuo II, chartered by the Defense Ministry, began offering evacuees bathing, medical and other services at Yatsushiro Port in the city of Yatsushiro. This is the first initiative under the 2021 law on promoting the use of ships to provide medical care. Many affected people washed away sweat on the day, but the bathing service will be suspended from Thursday due to the approaching typhoon. According to the prefectural government’s disaster response headquarters, the death toll from the earthquake stood at 38 as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, including cases under investigation for possible links to the disaster. A total of 14,572 homes have been found to be damaged. Water outages continued to affect around 44,000 homes in the cities of Yatsushiro and Uki as well as the towns of Kosa and Hikawa. Running water at households will likely be restored by the end of this month, while irrigation water is unlikely to be available again any time soon. Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, announced that it will resume operations on the Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train line between Shin-Minamata Station in Kumamoto Prefecture and Kagoshima-Chuo Station in neighboring Kagoshima Prefecture on Friday. JR Kyushu also said that the section between Kumamoto and Shin-Minamata stations is unlikely to reopen in August due to severe damage. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]