Symbolic imagePrime Minister Sanae Takaichi has toured Kumamoto almost a week after the magnitude 7.1 quake, whose death toll now stands at 38. Soaring temperatures are slowing recovery work and straining those still in shelters.
Kumamoto is a prefecture on Kyushu, Japan's southern main island. A strong earthquake there on Tuesday afternoon killed at least 13 people and injured hundreds, according to initial reports. Two secondary disasters followed within the hour: an explosion at a shopping mall in the prefecture and the collapse of a factory chimney that left workers missing. Japan's national government, under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, is coordinating the search for survivors while local authorities run evacuation centres sheltering thousands.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visited the south-western prefecture of Kumamoto almost a week after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake killed 38 people there, the Guardian reported. Soaring temperatures are hampering recovery work.
The Kumamoto prefectural government said on Saturday it had ended rescue operations at an Aeon shopping centre, where seven workers died in an explosion shortly after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. The New York Times reported that rescuers are working in 100-degree Fahrenheit heat and that shelters with limited air conditioning put displaced people at risk of heatstroke.
Four days after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture, the death toll stood at 34 to 35 on Friday. Rescuers were still working through a wrecked shopping mall in heat above 35 degrees Celsius.
Earthquake damage at a Japanese auto parts maker is rippling through the wider global automotive supply chain, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. The report describes the effects of the earthquake spreading well beyond the damaged plant itself.
Three days after a strong earthquake hit Kumamoto prefecture in south-western Japan on Tuesday, the confirmed death toll has risen to 35. Rescuers are still working through a partly collapsed shopping centre and a paper mill in temperatures of up to 35C. About 15,000 people are in shelters and around 23,000 homes remain without electricity, with 75,000 without running water.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Kumamoto prefecture in southwestern Japan has killed at least 18 people and injured 62, with dozens still unaccounted for a day later. Rescuers are digging through a shopping mall that partly collapsed after a suspected gas explosion an hour after the quake, and through a factory where a chimney fell. More than 9,000 people are in shelters during a heat wave, and China has offered condolences and help for its nationals.
A powerful earthquake struck Kumamoto prefecture on Japan's southern island of Kyushu on Tuesday afternoon, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds. About an hour later an explosion tore through a shopping mall in the prefecture, and a factory chimney collapsed, leaving workers missing. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the search a race against time as more than 9,000 people spent the night in evacuation centres.