According to the 'Shi Nihon Shinpo', on July 28, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. As of the afternoon of July 31, 79,100 households in the county still suffered from water supply interruptions. Due to damage to the pipelines connecting water sources such as dams to the water purification plants, maintenance work cannot keep up with the scale of the damage. Therefore, the situation of water supply interruptions is likely to persist for a long time.
In the earthquake-stricken Kumamoto Prefecture, Yahagi City and Kibōchō have suffered severe damage. Large-scale water supply interruptions are still ongoing. In Yahagi City as a whole, 2.53 thousand households have experienced continuous water supply cuts. The city’s water supply agency stated that the pipeline connecting the water source to the reservoir in the city center has broken due to road collapses. In the Nanakura area in the southern part of the city, multiple pipelines connecting the water sources to the water purification plants are leaking, resulting in no water being stored in the reservoirs.
Due to damage to the pipelines connecting the water source dam and the water purification plant, there are still 3,200 households in Kishima without water supply. The Yaesuchi Environmental Life Affairs Association responsible for management said that even the investigation of leaks and damages in the household pipelines has not been able to progress.
The group stated that if the upstream water treatment plants cannot resume operation, the repair work on the downstream pipelines will not be possible. The current priority is to restart the water treatment plants, but “a full recovery is expected to take a considerable amount of time.” The head of the Gotei City Water Service Bureau said helplessly: “In the short term, we can only rely on water supply trucks to maintain water supply.”
Eight generations mayor Ono Taifu of the city in a county disaster countermeasures meeting on the 29th, expressed concern over water rationing's impact on medical work and called for the national and county governments to take action immediately. The head of the ice-town, Mr. Fujimoto, also, combining with local water rationing and power rationing, requested "continued provision of drinking water and food aid."
As of July 31 local time, the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Kumamoto Prefecture has resulted in 35 deaths, and authorities are still counting the number of houses damaged. Water and electricity services have not been restored in some areas, and with the continuous hot weather, daytime temperatures are expected to reach 35 degrees Celsius or higher. Authorities are warning citizens about the risk of heatstroke.
