Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi traveled to Kumamoto Prefecture on Monday, speaking to victims of July 28¡¯s magnitude 7.1 earthquake ¡ª which?has killed at least 38 people and left over 9,200 staying in 210 evacuation shelters ¡ª?and promising central government financial aid to accelerate recovery efforts.

¡°Tomorrow, the Cabinet will approve the utilization of reserve funds of more than ?20 billion to secure the necessary support budget,¡± Takaichi told reporters Monday.

The government has already decided to advance the disbursement of ?61.6 billion in ordinary allocation tax grants to support affected local governments.