Japan Earthquake Toll Stands at 34 as Hopes Fade
The death toll from this week’s powerful earthquake in south-western Japan stood at thirty-four on Friday, as hopes of finding more survivors in the rubble faded. Rescuers continued to comb a collapsed shopping mall and a paper factory in Kumamoto prefecture, on the island of Kyushu, three days after the magnitude-7.1 quake. Several people remained unaccounted for.
The pace of rescues had slowed as the window for finding survivors narrowed, and attention was turning to the long task of clearing debris and rehousing the displaced. Tens of thousands of homes had suffered damage or lost power and water, and aftershocks continued to unsettle the region. Japan’s strict building standards are again credited with holding down the toll from so violent a quake. The new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has faced her first major test in the response. Watch for the final count and the scale of the rebuilding.