Hundreds of thousands of people affected by devastating floods and landslides in western Japan continued to struggle with water outages on Wednesday, while the death toll from the country’s worst rain-related disaster in decades reached 176 with scores more still missing. At least 254,084 homes are still
Hundreds of thousands of people affected by devastating floods and landslides in western Japan continued to struggle with water outages on Wednesday, while the death toll from the country’s worst rain-related disaster in decades reached 176 with scores more still missing.
At least 254,084 homes are still without water in Hiroshima, Ehime and Okayama, the prefectures hit hardest by last week’s torrential rains, with no prospects of supply being restored quickly, local authorities and the welfare ministry said.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who inspected damage in Okayama on Wednesday, told reporters that the central government will financially support affected municipalities in rebuilding the lives of disaster victims.
About 1,100 homes in nine other prefectures, including Osaka, Yamaguchi and Tokushima, are also without water, fanning worries about the prolonged impact on local people.
Many of those who managed to evacuate have relied on water supplied by local municipalities and the Self-Defense Forces.
Fourteen cities and towns in Hiroshima Prefecture have been affected by water cut-offs following a number of mudslides that ruptured water pipes and caused power outages at distribution reservoirs.
