Death Toll Rises to 38 in Japan Earthquake

The number of fatalities from the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Japan's Kumamoto prefecture has risen to 38. Japan's Prime Minister Takaiči Sanae visited the affected area on the sixth day of the disaster and met with evacuees at shelters. Currently, 46,000 households and businesses are experiencing water outages, and 8,500 people are taking refuge in 206 evacuation centers. The prefecture warned of the risk of heatstroke as temperatures are expected to reach 38 degrees Celsius.According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the earthquake occurred at 16:27 local time on July 28 in the Uki and Hikawa regions. The 7.1 magnitude quake, which occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, caused widespread damage, including fires, road and bridge collapses, throughout the prefecture. A 7 magnitude earthquake in April 2016 in Kumamoto prefecture resulted in 277 fatalities. Japan's Prime Minister Takaiči Sanae announced plans to declare the disaster an 'extensive disaster' and allocate 20 billion yen in disaster relief funds from the central government budget.