Over 6,000 People Evacuated after Kumamoto Quake 2 Weeks On

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 7:30 a.m. Monday, a total of 39 deaths had been confirmed in the 7.1-magnitude July 28 temblor, 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 with the disaster. The number of people taken to hospital for heatstroke is on the decrease. But the prefecture is expected to experience daytime temperatures of up to 35 degrees Celsius late this week, raising concern about possible heatstroke among the evacuees. While 10,467 people were at 415 shelters as of July 30, the number of evacuees has dropped to 6,165 at 99 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 Sunday their readiness to accept such people. Of 996 applications, 103 have been granted. Meanwhile, a total of 21,614 residential buildings have been confirmed damaged, with 1,744 of them destroyed or heavily damaged and 7,876 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 the repair of school buildings and other challenges. Volunteer centers have been set up in all 11 municipalities that require assistance, with 2,451 volunteers taking part in disaster relief work as of 2 p.m. Sunday. The section between Kumamoto and Shin-Minamata stations on the Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train line remains suspended. Kyushu Railway Co., or JR Kyushu, is expected to announce within August when the section will be reopened. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]