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Associated Press

An elderly woman who developed heatstroke while taking shelter in a car was the latest fatality from a powerful earthquake that struck Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto last week, officials said on Sunday as concerns over heat-related illnesses grow in an area that is also suffering extreme temperatures.
The woman in her seventies with heatstroke was found in a car, Kumamoto officials said, as they raised the death toll from the quake to 36. The magnitude 7.1 hit Kumamoto prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday.
This latest death was what officials and experts had worried about amid high temperatures.
Kumamoto authorities were to start delivering leaflets to those taking shelter in their cars, urging them to stay in cool places and take sufficient liquids, and regularly take exercise to avoid blood clotting risks.

NHK public television said the woman was found dead on Thursday in a car without petrol.
The prefecture’s main challenge is the lack of fresh water affecting nearly 70,000 homes, and fuel shortages as Japan suffers sweltering heat, stoking fears of heat-related illness.
Japan Meteorological Agency said temperatures reached an “extreme heat” level of 36.6 degrees Celsius (98 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kumamoto city on Saturday and that they could go higher on Sunday.
More than 9,000 people remain at crowded shelters, such as converted community centres, school gyms and classrooms, many of them lacking air conditioning.
Many others slept in cars parked at town hall car parks and parks, or outside their homes, for privacy.
Experts have long criticised Japan’s crowded conditions at emergency shelters, arguing that a lack of sanitation and privacy creates additional stress and increases the risk of health problems for disaster-hit people.
Water, food and other necessities, including portable toilets, as well as air conditioners and partitions, were being delivered to improve conditions at the evacuation centres, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told a government task force meeting on Saturday.


“The government is determined to do everything we can,” Takaichi said.
On Saturday, authorities ended a massive days-long search-and-rescue operation at the Aeon Mall, in the town of Kashima, after extracting five people and the bodies of seven others.
The site was one of the hardest-hit sites, after an explosion that followed the quake caused the walls and a floor to collapse.
The explosion, which the company said it believes was due to a gas leak, occurred after about 3,000 shoppers had been evacuated to a car park following the quake, but some employees remained inside. The mall’s second floor collapsed.
The overall number of missing in the hit prefecture remains unknown, and search operations pressed on, with thousands of Self Defence troops, police, rescuers and sniffer dogs deployed.
Takaichi urged rescue personnel not to leave anyone behind.
At another hard-hit site in Kumamoto prefecture, a chimney collapsed at the Nippon Paper Industries factory in Yatsushiro city, trapping 11 employees. Nine had since been confirmed dead and two were rescued, officials said.
The earthquake left 105 people injured in Kumamoto, authorities said, and two in addition to the reported deaths were being investigated to determine if they were quake-related.
The prefecture said it has received more than 1,500 reports of power loss as of Saturday, but the local power company serving Kyushu said it had no immediate reports of outages.
Over 180 homes were destroyed, officials said, and nearly 3,500 buildings were damaged – nearly double the number reported on Friday – with 20 of them severely affected, according to Kumamoto prefectural assessments.


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A man looks at a temporary shelter for people whose homes are damaged in as a damaged in Hikawa, Kumamoto prefecture on Saturday. Photo: Jiji Press/AFP

People collect water from a tanker truck in Uki, Kumamoto prefecture, on Friday. Photo: Kyodo

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A rescue worker walks in front of Aeon mall in Kashima, Kumamoto, which was damaged by an explosion following an earthquake, on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Rescue workers conduct a search operation at the damaged Aeon shopping centre on Thursday after a 7.1 earthquake struck Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture. Photo: Reuters

The collapsed worship hall of Yatsushiro shrine seen on Wednesday after a 7.1 earthquake hit Japan’s southern Kumamoto prefecture. Photo: Reuters

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Many are choosing to sleep in cars for privacy as there are over 9,000 people in crowded evacuation centres, often minus air conditioning


Many are choosing to sleep in cars for privacy as there are over 9,000 people in crowded evacuation centres, often minus air conditioning.


Japan quake victim dies of heatstroke while sheltering in car amid ‘extreme heat’ warning

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Many are choosing to sleep in cars for privacy as there are over 9,000 people in crowded evacuation centres, often minus air conditioning

Many are choosing to sleep in cars for privacy as there are over 9,000 people in crowded evacuation centres, often minus air conditioning