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JAPAN-QUAKE
Toll rises to four after quake in Japan’s Osaka
TOKYO, June 19, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The death toll in a powerful earthquake
that rocked Japan’s Osaka on Monday has risen to four, with over 380 injured,
officials said Tuesday, urging vigilance against landslides ahead of heavy
rains.
The fourth fatality was an 81-year-old woman, who died after she was
trapped under a chest of drawers in her house, officials said.
The other fatalities included a nine-year-old girl who died in the city of
Takatsuki north of Osaka, trapped by a collapsed wall at her school following
the 5.3-magnitude quake.
The other two were an 80-year-old man — killed by a collapsing wall —
and a 84-year-old man trapped under a bookcase in his home, officials said.
“So far we have confirmed that four people died and 381 people were
injured,” top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Tuesday.
It was not clear how seriously hurt the injured were.
“The government will keep up efforts to rescue people,” he said, though he
added that there were no reports of missing people.
And he said officials would do “everything we can” to quickly restore gas
and running water to homes cut off after the quake.
Japan’s meteorological agency meanwhile warned that heavy rains expected
in Osaka on Tuesday and Wednesday could cause landslides in the region, with
the quake potentially having loosened earth. Suga also called for residents
to be on alert, saying “landslide disasters are possible in the region that
experienced strong tremors, even if rains are light.”
The weather agency said the region could see 50 millimetres of rain by
Wednesday morning and up to 100 millimetres in the 24 hours after that to
Thursday morning.
“Normally we don’t issue warnings with this level of rains, but after the
quake it could cause landslides, floods and swelling river streams,” official
Masakatsu Oya told AFP.
Officials have also warned of the possibility of strong aftershocks in the
coming week and especially in the next two to three days.
Electricity outages caused by the quake have been resolved, but restoring
gas and water will take longer, officials said.
The education ministry also told AFP on Tuesday that it would instruct
education boards nationwide to inspect school buildings, after the death of
the nine-year-old girl at her school.
More than 500 primary and secondary schools in Osaka and four other
prefectures suffered damage to their buildings including collapsed ceilings
and broken window glass, the ministry official said.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1122 hrs