A woman in her 70s is thought to have passed away from heat stroke after staying in her car. The car reportedly had no fuel left, so she couldn’t use the air conditioning as extreme heat affected the area.
Heat emerging as major threat
Governor Takashi Kimura called the events “heartbreaking,” especially for those forced to stay in cars or outdoors because of ruined homes and crowded shelters. He urged those in vehicles to keep fuel for air conditioning or go to air-cooled emergency centers. Japan’s weather service noted temperatures in Kumamoto rose to 36.6 degrees Celsius on Saturday, with more heat-related issues feared as the wave continues. Thirty-eight people died during the quake, including one person who died of apparent heatstroke while taking shelter in a car in hot weather, officials said on Monday. Temperatures were as high as 40C in the country’s south on Monday.
Overcrowded shelters and stretched resources
Over 9,000 people are sheltering in schools, community facilities, and emergency sites, but many still remain in cars or outside due to privacy needs. Officials are giving advice on staying hydrated and finding cooler spots. Gas shortages have created long lines at stations, and around 47,000 homes still don’t have clean water. Rescue teams, including thousands of Self Defense Forces and police, continue to work at disaster locations. More than 46,000 households remain without water and many also face fuel shortages as the region suffers sweltering heat, stoking fears of heat-related illness. More than 8,500 people remain at crowded emergency shelters in converted community centres, school gyms and classrooms, many of which lack airconditioning.
Rescuers at an Aeon Mall in Kashima pulled out seven bodies and five survivors after part of the building fell, likely due to a gas blast from the earthquake. A separate incident at a paper factory in Yatsushiro caused a chimney to collapse, killing nine workers and hurting two more. Over 180 homes were destroyed and more than 3,800 buildings were damaged. A company that owned a general store in the shopping mall that collapsed during last weeks earthquake, acknowledged that it had instructed two employees to return to the building to put sales proceeds into a safe, where they were killed in an explosion that followed the quake. Two executives of Habita, a local general store operator that had a shop inside the collapsed Aeon mall in the town of Kashima, attended the wake on Sunday of one of the two victims, 22-year-old Kurumi Otake, and apologised to her parents for the death. Company sales manager Goji Yuse acknowledged that the company instructed the two to put sales proceeds into the safe if it was possible. “I wish someone had stopped her,” Otake’s tearful mother told them. “My daughter is not coming back.” The mall’s operator said it believes the explosion was due to a gas leak and occurred after about 3,000 shoppers had been evacuated to a parking lot after the quake, but some employees remained inside. Rescuers recovered five people and the bodies of seven others from the mall.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government is sending water, food, portable restrooms, air conditioners, and room dividers to shelters to help conditions. Authorities are still checking two more deaths to see if they were connected to the quake. Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has visited the south-western prefecture of Kumamoto, where recovery efforts are being hampered by heat and a lack of water supplies, almost a week after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake killed dozens and caused widespread damage. Residents put out heaps of debris, broken furniture and damaged appliances for collection, while in the towns of Uki and Hikawa, construction of temporary housing began. Some hotels and inns were offering their rooms for evacuees. Takaichi on Monday flew over the affected areas from an army helicopter and visited one of the area’s best-equipped shelters, with cardboard beds, partitions and airconditioning, triggering criticism on social media that her visit distorted reality. The governor of Kumamoto, Takashi Kimura, in his meeting with Takaichi, stressed the “abnormal heat” over recent days. He said he sought further government support to improve the conditions at evacuation centres, saying many of them lacked clean water and medical care. “While taking into consideration the governor’s requests, we will quickly examine what the government can do for the disaster-hit region and affected people and move proactively,” Takaichi said.