A woman with apparent heat stroke found dead while taking shelter in a car in quake-hit Japan

An elderly woman who developed heatstroke while taking shelter in a car was the latest fatality from a powerful earthquake that struck Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto last week, officials said on Sunday as concerns over heat-related illnesses grow in an area that is also suffering extreme temperatures. The woman in her seventies with heatstroke was found in a car, Kumamoto officials said, as they raised the death toll from the quake to 36. The magnitude 7.1 hit Kumamoto prefecture on...

TOKYO (AP) — An elderly woman who developed heat stroke while taking shelter in a car is the latest fatality from a powerful earthquake that struck Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto last week, officials said Sunday as concerns over heat-related illnesses grow in an area that is also suffering extreme temperatures.The woman in her 70s with apparent heat stroke was found in a car, Kumamoto officials said, as they raised the death toll from the quake to 36. The magnitude 7.1 hit Kumamoto Prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday.This latest death was what officials and experts had worried about amid high temperatures. Kumamoto authorities were to start delivering leaflets to those taking shelter in their cars, urging them to stay in cool places and take sufficient liquids, and regularly take exercise to avoid blood clotting risks.NHK public television said the woman was found dead Thursday in a car without gas.”It’s heartbreaking,” said Kumaoto Gov.

Takashi Kimura, referring to the death of the woman, as he called on evacuees taking shelter in their cars to keep refueling their vehicles to run air-conditioning, or consider moving to air-conditioned evacuation centers to avoid similar risks.The prefecture’s main challenge is the lack of fresh water still affecting nearly 47,000 homes, and fuel shortages as Japan suffers sweltering heat, stoking fears of heat-related illness.Japan Meteorological Agency said temperatures reached an “extreme heat” level of 36.6 degrees Celsius (97.8 degrees Fahrenheit) in Kumamoto city Saturday and that they could go higher Sunday.More than 9,000 people remain at crowded shelters, such as converted community centers, school gyms and classrooms, many of them lacking air-conditioning. Many others slept in cars parked at town hall parking lots and parks, or outside of their homes, for privacy.Due to fuel supply shortages in hard-hit areas, there have been long lines of cars outside of gas stations that have resumed operations as fuel delivery gradually restarted.Experts have long criticized Japan’s crowded conditions at emergency shelters, arguing that a lack of sanitation and privacy creates additional stress and increases the risk of health problems for disaster-hit people.Water, food and other necessities, including portable toilets, as well as air conditioners and partitions, were being delivered t…