Hokkaido Quake Death Toll Hits 41; Nearly 2,000 People at Shelters

September 11, 2018

Sapporo- The death toll from a powerful earthquake that severely damaged the northernmost Japan prefecture of Hokkaido last week reached 41 on Monday, while 1,989 people were staying at shelters as of 9 p.m. the same day (noon GMT).

The last missing person in the temblor, which struck the Iburi region in southwestern Hokkaido on Thursday, was found and confirmed dead in the small hours of Monday. The victim was found in a landslide site in the town of Atsuma and identified as Tatsuyuki Yamamoto, a 77-year-old male resident of the Horonai district in the town.

A deceased man in his 50s in the city of Tomakomai was confirmed to have died due to the earthquake.

Of the 41 victims, 36 were from Atsuma. "It will take a considerable period of time to reconstruct our town," Shoichiro Miyasaka, mayor of Atsuma, said. The 6.7-magnitude predawn quake measured 7, the highest level on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, in Atsuma.

The quake caused multiple landslides in Atsuma. Miyasaka said he still cannot believe that mountains in the town have collapsed. "With past records showing that no mountain in the town collapsed, I had believed that Atsuma was resistant to sediment disasters," he noted.

According to the Hokkaido government, the 1,989 evacuees were in nine municipalities, including Atsuma, and the towns of Mukawa and Abira.

Some 6,000 households in five municipalities, including Atsuma, Abira and the prefectural capital of Sapporo, remained without water supply as of 9 p.m. Monday.

Some 50 buildings were severely damaged or destroyed by the quake.

Meanwhile, electricity supplies have been restored almost across Hokkaido, one of Japan's four main islands. But the power supply-demand situation continued to be tight.

Still, Hokkaido Electric Power Co. is calling on companies and households to save power as its supply capacity is not sufficient. Specifically, it is asking customers to reduce electricity consumption by 20 pct during daytime. Jiji Press