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Japan ends rescue at quake-hit Aeon shopping centre after 7 deaths
Kumamoto said the search found no more people unaccounted for after the mall’s second floor collapsed following a possible gas explosion, and it continues work to restore services as 69,400 households still lack water.
Japan’s Kumamoto prefectural government has ended rescue operations at an Aeon shopping centre in Kashima, where seven workers died in an explosion shortly after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck southwestern Japan, according to SCMP Economy. Local authorities said searches involving police and firefighters, along with the Self-Defence Forces and others, found no more people unaccounted for.
The earthquake caused the mall’s second floor to collapse in a possible gas explosion after about 200 people were evacuated following the quake on Tuesday afternoon, the report said. Across the prefecture, 36 people, including those at the shopping centre, were killed and 11 others were seriously injured.
Relief efforts are continuing, with water and other infrastructure restoration underway amid scorching heat, SCMP Economy reported. The prefecture said 69,400 households were still without water, and more than 9,000 people were evacuated as 3,429 houses were damaged, including 181 destroyed.
The central government also said it asked petroleum wholesalers to increase deliveries to Kumamoto, with expected supplies reaching four times the prefecture’s usual level, the outlet added. Evacuees have been staying in cars with air conditioning running, while long queues formed at gas stations amid petrol shortages.