A landslide is seen after the natural disaster in Minamiaso, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan Saturday, April 16, 2016. She was identified as Rieko Katashima, according to the Kumamoto Prefectural Government.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, the number of evacuees, which hit 196,000 at the peak Sunday, fell to about 110,000 as many people went back to their homes later in the day.
Seismologists differ in opinion as to whether the series of quakes could trigger strong tremors in other regions of Japan.
A hospital was left teetering after the powerful quake, forcing the evacuation of patients and further stretching the emergency response. There has been additional damage in neighboring prefectures including Oita.
Mr Kudo came with his wife and a 12-year-old daughter, carrying several empty plastic containers to get water while his 80-year-old mother waited at home. As of 9 p.m., some 39,000 households were without power.
Abe had planned to visit Kumamoto, 1,200 kilometers southwest of the capital, to survey the damage, but has chose to avoid the area while aftershocks continue. Nine died in the quake on Thursday night.
The U.S. military said it was preparing to provide relief flights to the affected areas in southern Japan.
Earlier, Abe had said Japan did not immediately need such assistance. “We want to conduct it as soon as we coordinate the transportation needs and make preparations”.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference that significant damage is feared from the latest quakes and the government would do all in its power to assist.
Many anti-U.S. military activists, in particular those in Okinawa, oppose the Osprey, claiming it is risky given the number of fatal accidents that occurred during its development.
“We always said to each other that a big quake would hit at some point, but not really taking it seriously”.
More than 7,000 people who had to evacuate their homes in one of the hardest-hit regions of Mashiki Town, in Kumamoto Prefecture, are facing further hardships as strong winds and heavy rains worsened conditions in the worst-hit area overnight, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said. Firefighters handed out tarpaulins to residents so they could cover damaged roofs. Rescuers managed to pull 10 students out of a collapsed university apartment in the town of Minami on Saturday.
NHK showed footage of people being rescued by helicopters after they were stranded by a collapsed bridge. The prime minister’s trip to Kumamoto planned for Saturday was cancelled following the new quakes, Suga said.
Quakes are common in Japan, part of the seismically active “Ring of Fire” which sweeps from the South Pacific islands, up through Indonesia, Japan, across to Alaska and down the west coast of the United States and Central and South America.
Both quakes had very shallow epicentres and caused fierce shaking.
Three nuclear plants in the region were unaffected by the quakes, but the Nuclear Regulation Authority said it will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss the disaster.
The city’s 400-year-old Kumamoto Castle was badly damaged, its walls breached after having withstood bombardment and fire during its four centuries of existence.
Advertisement
The USGS, which is a government scientific body, estimated that there was a 72 percent likelihood of economic damage exceeding $10 billion, adding that it was too early to be specific. Major insurers are yet to release estimates. One of the company’s major customers for the sensors is Apple. Nissan Motor Co. stopped output at its plant in Fukuoka after the latest quake as it assesses the impact on the facility and its supply chain. Ltd were also disrupted. The region’s transport network suffered considerable damage with one tunnel caved in, a highway bridge damaged, roads cut or blocked by landslips and train services halted, media reported.
