On July 31, Japanese rescue forces mobilized nghiệp vụ dogs to conduct a final search at the Aeon shopping center in Kumamoto Prefecture, which was destroyed after an explosion suspected of gas leakage occurring after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.
According to AFP, Japanese government spokesman Minoru Kihara said that at the Aeon shopping center, rescuers had evacuated 11 people as of the evening of July 30, including 7 deaths.
To ensure that no one is trapped inside, we are completing the inspection with the support of professionally trained nghiệp vụ dogs," Mr. Kihara said.
Local media quoted information from the shopping center's operating unit as saying that all employees have now been confirmed safe. This shopping area was evacuated before the suspected gas explosion occurred, about 1 hour after the earthquake on July 28.
At another large scene, a paper mill, rescue forces found a total of 9 bodies and officially ended the search operation. 2 survivors were also taken out of the area, where a large chimney collapsed due to an earthquake.
The earthquake caused widespread damage in southwestern Japan, collapsing many houses, damaging roads and bridges, causing fires and causing tens of thousands of households to lose power and water.
According to the Japanese government, as of July 31, there were still about 4,500 households in Kumamoto without electricity and about 79,000 households without restored domestic water sources. About 5,100 soldiers have been mobilized to participate in supporting disaster recovery.
Thousands of people, including many elderly people, are still sheltering at evacuation points to avoid the heat.
A positive piece of information recorded by AFP is that 25 cats at a cat cafe inside a shopping center were safely rescued and transferred to Hiroshima city for care, attracting many positive feedbacks on social networks.
Japan is one of the countries with the strongest seismic activity in the world, located at the intersection of 4 major tectonic plates belonging to the Pacific "Fire Belt".
Kumamoto Prefecture alone suffered 2 serious earthquakes in 2016, killing 273 people and injuring more than 2,800 people. In 2011, a 9-magnitude offshore earthquake and tsunami killed or missing about 18,500 people, and caused the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
