Survivors of a large earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture earlier this week were battling against intense heat Saturday, as the estimated death toll rose to at least 36.
Over 9,000 evacuees marked their first weekend since Tuesday¡¯s magnitude 7.1 temblor shook the region, as water shortages continued.
Some 229 evacuation shelters were set up Saturday morning, housing around 9,228 people. While power has largely been restored throughout the prefecture, many people were still taking refuge in their cars to escape the heat and stay cool.
Maximum temperatures are expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius or higher Saturday and into next week, with Monday forecast to hit 40 C, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The agency is urging people to take precautions against heatstroke.
In the town of Hikawa, residents coped with grueling temperatures as they cleaned up their damaged homes. ¡°I¡¯m so glad to be alive,¡± one resident said.
As of 7:30 a.m., a total of 1,261 homes in the town had been confirmed damaged, either completely or partially destroyed.
Water service has been cut off to around 72,000 households in the prefecture, and there is currently no timeline for restoration. Authorities are stepping up efforts to strengthen water supply support, including the dispatch of water trucks to priority locations.
Major transportation routes began partially resuming operations Friday, suggesting the damage to infrastructure may not have been as severe as the 2016 Kumamoto quake and other similarly powerful disasters of the recent past.
Even though the ¡°72-hour¡± mark expired Friday ¡ª beyond which the survival rate is said to drop sharply ¡ª authorities are continuing to make every effort to locate the missing. Of the 36 deaths, 27 victims have been identified.
At Aeon Mall Kumamoto, in the hard-hit town of Kashima, 12 people have been rescued so far, and seven deaths have been confirmed. An explosion ripped through the mall about 80 minutes after the quake on Tuesday, causing part of the second floor to collapse and trapping workers inside.
The police, Self-Defense Forces, and fire department are continuing debris removal operations and are searching for anyone who might still be trapped.
A volunteer center opened in the town of Mashiki on Saturday, where work began to remove damaged household items?as part of quake recovery efforts.
The earthquake struck Kumamoto Prefecture at around 4:27 p.m. on Tuesday, registering a shindo 7 ¡ª the highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale.
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