Death toll from earthquake in Japan rises to 30 - aftershock and heat complicate rescue efforts
Kyiv • UNN
The death toll from the magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture has risen to 30. Rescue efforts are being complicated by an aftershock and heat of up to 35°C.
The death toll from the powerful earthquake that shook Japan on Tuesday has risen to 30. Meanwhile, the search for survivors trapped under the rubble of a severely damaged shopping center, a paper factory, and collapsed houses in the country's southwest continues. This is reported by The Guardian, writes UNN.
Details
The magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu injured at least 62 people, prefectural authorities said.
Police and Self-Defense Forces personnel continued searching for one worker among the debris at the Nippon Paper factory in Yatsushiro, where a smokestack collapsed. Of the 10 other people who were trapped, eight died and two were injured.
The first officially confirmed death of a foreign national was that of a Vietnamese technical intern. According to the Vietnamese government, a crane fell on him at the factory where he worked.
Nearly 23,000 homes were left without electricity, and 75,000 without water supply, Kumamoto officials said. About 15,000 people were evacuated to 400 temporary shelters.
The Defense Minister said Wednesday evening that the Self-Defense Forces are delivering cooling devices to shelters in Kumamoto, and Self-Defense Forces ships are transporting water and food.
We are doing everything we can to prioritize saving lives, making efforts to deliver necessary supplies, starting with water
Aerial footage taken by police showed that several houses were completely destroyed, some of them collapsing directly into the river.
The earthquake reached the maximum, seventh level on the seven-point Japanese shindo intensity scale. "This was the strongest earthquake I have ever experienced," said 73-year-old Kanzō Matsumoto, owner of an elite hot spring hotel bathhouse in Yatsushiro, in an interview with Agence France-Presse.
The Geospatial Information Authority of Japan reported that during the earthquake, some areas of the earth's surface shifted by 87 centimeters.
The Yatsushiro City Hall suffered damage to its seismic isolation system — a building protection technology that reduces the impact of strong tremors by cushioning the foundation. This system was restored after the deadly 2016 earthquake.
Some automakers and semiconductor manufacturers with factories on Kyushu have halted production.
Toyota said it would suspend operations at three plants while assessing the earthquake's impact on suppliers and logistics. Honda suspended operations at a motorcycle plant until Friday.
Taiwan's TSMC resumed operations at its facility in Kumamoto, while Sony, Renesas Electronics, and Tokyo Electron halted production.
Kyushu is a major hub for Japan's automotive and semiconductor industries, which together account for about 20% of the region's industrial output.
Analysts said the production stoppages were likely caused primarily by precautionary measures rather than significant damage to the plants.
Addendum
In 2016, Kumamoto was already hit by two devastating earthquakes that killed 273 people and injured over 2,800.
The Japanese archipelago, home to about 125 million people, experiences hundreds of tremors every year and accounts for about 18% of all earthquakes worldwide.