Four of the five people newly certified as disaster-related deaths from the earthquakes in Kumamoto Prefecture appear to have died because of severe heat, including heatstroke and failing health after air conditioning stopped, Kyodo News reported.
The findings came from interviews with the local governments that certified the deaths. A death is classed as disaster-related when it is not caused directly by the quake but is brought on by evacuation or the conditions that follow.
The four deaths point to heat and the loss of cooling as the immediate danger in the aftermath, rather than the shaking itself.
Shelters and the heat
Evacuees who lose air conditioning in summer face rising temperatures indoors, and heatstroke can follow. The certifications place that failure alongside the quake as a cause of death.
Kumamoto's earthquakes have now been linked to deaths that occurred after the ground stopped moving, a pattern that puts weight on how evacuation sites are run.