Over 6,000 People Evacuated 2 Weeks after Kumamoto Quake

Kumamoto, Aug. 10 (Jiji Press)–Over 6,000 people are still living at evacuation centers following a massive earthquake that struck the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kumamoto almost two weeks ago. As of 2 p.m. Monday, a total of 39 deaths had been confirmed from the 7.1-magnitude July 28 temblor, which registered up to 7, the highest level on Japan’s seismic intensity scale, according to the prefectural government’s disaster response headquarters. The number of people who suffered serious injuries stood at 24. The fatal victims include one whose death from possible heatstroke may have been associated with the disaster and two others whose deaths are currently under investigation for potential links to the disaster. The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned people to be alert for possible earthquakes measuring lower 5, the fifth highest on the scale, or higher, over the next month or so, due to robust seismic activities in the region. The number of people taken to hospital for heatstroke is falling. Still, the prefecture is expected to experience daytime temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius late this week, raising concern about possible heatstroke among evacuees. While 10,467 people were at 415 shelters as of July 30, the number of evacuees has dropped to 6,108 at 97 such facilities. The Kumamoto government is making preparations for evacuees to move to hotels for secondary evacuation, with 148 facilities in the prefecture announcing by Monday their readiness to accept such people. Of 1,044 applications, 153 have been granted. Meanwhile, a total of 21,815 residential buildings have been confirmed damaged, with 1,744 of them destroyed or heavily damaged and 7,974 partially damaged. Water outages continued to affect over 30,000 homes in the cities of Uki and Yatsushiro and the town of Hikawa. Emergency restoration work is expected to be completed by the end of this month. In preparation for the restart of schools after the summer holidays, the prefectural government and the education ministry will assess the needs for repairs of school buildings and other challenges. Volunteer centers have been set up in all 11 municipalities that require assistance, with 3,277 volunteers taking part in disaster relief work as of 2 p.m. Monday. On the Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train line, the section between Kumamoto and Shin-Minamata stations remains suspended. Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, is expected to announce within August when the section will be reopened. Accommodation facilities in the prefecture received cancellations of bookings for 146,000 people, worth about 2.06 billion yen, between, July 28 and Thursday. In value terms, around 60 pct of the total cancellations were for facilities in the Aso and Amakusa areas, which were relatively unscathed in the quake. Describing this as “a sort of reputational damage,” Kumamoto Governor Takashi Kimura said, “We hope to consider measures to support the tourism sector.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]