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Kumamoto quake toll rises
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday, and the death toll rose to 35 as prefectural officials said the 72-hour window considered most critical for survival and rescue closed on Friday.
“The death toll from a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture”
Türkiye Today said the quake was recorded at a depth of 10 kilometers and that the Japan Meteorological Agency said it struck the Uki and Hikawa areas near Kumamoto City on Kyushu on July 28.
NPR reported the death toll climbed to 34 from a quake that set off an explosion at a mall, toppled a factory chimney, and flattened homes, with one more death still under investigation.
In Hikawa Town, Anadolu Ajansı said more than 120 houses and other buildings were completely destroyed, while in Kashima Town rescue operations at Aeon Mall Kumamoto continued after an explosion about 80 minutes after the earthquake.
Search and rescue continued as the disaster response headquarters meeting in Kumamoto Prefecture said 35 people had died, including those whose deaths were still being investigated to determine whether they were caused by the quake.
Aeon Mall and Nippon Paper
At Aeon Mall Kumamoto in Kashima Town, NPR said Japanese Chief Cabinet Sec Minoru Kihara told reporters in Tokyo on Friday that seven people were confirmed dead and 11 had been rescued after the mall's second floor collapsed.
Anadolu Ajansı reported that the mall was severely damaged by an explosion, believed to have been caused by a gas leak, about 80 minutes after the earthquake, and that seven people rescued from the site have died while five were injured.
NHKニュース said officials were still confirming whether all the deaths could directly be attributed to the quake, while Anadolu Ajansı said the death toll had not yet been confirmed whether all of the deaths can be directly attributed to the earthquake.
At the Nippon Paper Industries plant in Yatsushiro City, NHKニュース said officials said 11 people were trapped after a smokestack collapsed and that all have been pulled out but nine have died.
In the same period, Al Jazeera said the death toll rose to 34 up from 25, with six more people seriously injured, and it said nearly half of the deaths were linked to structural damage at a Nippon Paper Industries paper mill and a possible gas explosion at an Aeon store.
Heat, shelters, and disruption
As rescue operations continued, NPR said more than 79,000 homes were without water and more than 3,500 without electricity on Friday, and it said more than 9,000 people were staying in shelters where power sources were being added to provide air conditioning.
“"We have to make sure elderly people are not developing heatstrokes or dehydration,"”
Nation Thailand reported that at 3pm on Friday, 9,134 people were staying at 374 shelters, while it said temperatures exceeded 35 degrees Celsius in numerous affected areas and the prefectural government advised residents to drink fluids frequently and take precautions against heatstroke.
PBS said the Ministry of Environment sent out a heatstroke alert for the Kumamoto area with temperatures rising above 33 C, and it quoted a doctor, Yutaka Kobayashi, saying, "We have to make sure elderly people are not developing heatstrokes or dehydration."
Japan Today said the critical 72-hour window neared its end and that people endured disruptions to essential services in sweltering summer heat, while it said the prefectural government put the total death toll from the quake at 34.
On transport and industry impacts, Türkiye Today said search and rescue operations were continuing across affected sites including the Eon Mall shopping center and a Nippon Paper Industries plant, while VOV World said the impact of the massive earthquake was halting operations at many factories across the Kyushu region and that many factories remained closed or partially operational due to damage to infrastructure and supply chain disruptions.
