Heatstroke fears rise as Japan quake victims face El Nino weather without power, water
Nine other deaths in the prefecture were being investigated to ascertain if they were linked to the quake
Many of the port city’s roughly 58,000 households were still without running water or power on Thursday, two days since the quake hit Kumamoto prefecture, killing at least 25 people.
Matsushita, who is helping lead relief efforts, said he had no idea whether it would take days, weeks or months to repair the badly damaged water mains. “Because of the summer heat, the lack of water is especially difficult,” he said in the city hall.
With the building’s toilets out of order, officials erected emergency toilets over sewer manholes outside, in temperatures of around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) and stifling humidity.
“It will require painstaking work, and there is currently no timetable,” he added.
The Kumamoto prefectural government said the death toll from the earthquake was now at 25 – most of them at Nippon Paper Industries’ paper mill, which suffered major structural damage, and at Aeon’s shopping centre, where a possible gas explosion occurred.