The death toll from the 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern Japan on Tuesday now stands at 18, according to data from the central government and the Kumamoto prefecture, while rescue teams work around the clock this Wednesday to find survivors trapped under the rubble of buildings.
To the 13 deaths reported earlier in the day by the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, another five have now been added due to the collapse of a chimney at the Yatsushiro plant of Nippon Paper Industries, said a spokesman for the Kumamoto prefecture in a press conference.
Four people could also remain buried under the rubble, the local spokesman added.
Difficulties in presenting a clear death toll
Those killed by the earthquake, which reached the maximum level of 7 on the Japanese scale and had its epicenter in Kumamoto prefecture on Tuesday afternoon, include three people who were in a shopping center operated by the Aeon chain.
The president of the network, Akio Yoshida, stated in a press conference that three other people are still missing and rescue efforts continue.
The spokesperson for the Japanese Government, Minoru Kihara, however, highlighted the difficulties of the authorities in presenting a clear number of missing people, in a press conference that took place practically at the same time as Yoshida’s appearance.
“At this moment we are not in a position to say with certainty how many people are there,” said Kihara, asked about people trapped under the rubble in the shopping center.
Race against time
“More than 20 hours have passed since the disaster, but there are still people waiting for help and it is a real race against time,” Takaichi said in a media appearance.
The Japanese authorities have deployed thousands of troops to help in the search and rescue tasks, Takaichi stressed, with some 4,600 soldiers from the Self-Defense Forces (Army), 2,000 from the Police and some 1,410 firefighters.
“We are evaluating the situation of our response capacity. We ask each operational unit to continue increasing its personnel and equipment,” urged the prime minister.
Hundreds injured and almost 9,000 evacuated
Added to the dead and missing are a large number of injured, more than 200 at the Yatsushiro North Community Medical Center alone, a hospital spokesperson told EFE.
The Kumamoto fire department explained that they transferred almost a hundred injured people to various centers, six of them seriously, and that the various fire alerts have been controlled.
The Saiseikai Kumamoto health center reported last night that 84 people injured by the earthquake were receiving medical attention and one of them was unconscious.
“People with injuries, such as fractures caused by falling furniture during the earthquake, are arriving one after another. We have 400 hospital beds, but we are already running out of space,” the head of the hospital’s public relations office, Yoshitaka Matsuoka, told public broadcaster NHK.
According to data from Kumamoto prefecture, which in 2016 was already the scene of a series of earthquakes that left more than 200 dead, 8,886 people have been evacuated and more than 34,800 homes have suffered power outages.
Japan sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most active seismic zones in the world, and suffers earthquakes relatively frequently, so its infrastructure is specially designed to withstand tremors.
