▲ An evacuation shelter set up in Matsubase, Uki, Kumamoto
Recovery efforts and evacuation life have become even more difficult in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, where 38 people have died following a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on July 28, as a severe heatwave exceeding 40 degrees Celsius sweeps the region.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency on the 3rd, the highest temperature in Chuo-ku, Kumamoto City, reached 40.3°C (105°F) today.
Local media reported that this is the first time temperatures have exceeded 40°C in Kumamoto Prefecture.
Visiting the affected region for the first time since the earthquake, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced plans to inject 20 billion yen (approx. 182 billion KRW) into disaster recovery efforts for Kumamoto.
She also stated that the earthquake would be designated as a "Specified Emergency Disaster," which allows for special exceptions in administrative procedures during the recovery process.
Prime Minister Takaichi further shared that a large ferry capable of providing medical and accommodation services to earthquake victims is scheduled to dock at Yatsushiro Port in Kumamoto Prefecture tomorrow.
Using a Ground Self-Defense Force helicopter, she surveyed from the air the damage at the AEON Mall Kumamoto, which suffered explosions and collapses following the quake, and the Nippon Paper Industries Yatsushiro Plant, where a smokestack collapsed.
She then visited an evacuation shelter set up in Hikawa, the epicenter, to listen to the difficulties faced by earthquake victims and explain the government's response measures.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that agricultural damage in Kumamoto Prefecture caused by the earthquake has been confirmed at 1,970 agricultural facilities and 389 plots of farmland.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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