Japan cleans up after deadly typhoon Hagibis

World Wednesday 16/October/2019 13:07 PM
By: Times News Service
Japan cleans up after deadly typhoon Hagibis

Tokyo: The death toll following typhoon Hagibis continued to rise as Japan's government considered pledging additional money to aid search-and-rescue and clean-up efforts.

Over 200 people were injured by the typhoon and several are still missing, according to local news agency NHK. It also put the number of deaths caused by the typhoon at 73 people.

In the aftermath, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary session that the government was considering an additional budget to support the ongoing search-and-rescue and relief efforts.

"We put the people's lives first," he said after calling for speedy support for residents.

Currently, the clean-up effort is being funded by a disaster response special reserve of 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion, €4.1 billion).

A trail of destruction

Damage was widespread with over 34,000 homes without power and 110,000 lacking running water. More than 30,000 people were still at shelters as of late Monday, according to the Cabinet Office's latest tally.

The flooding was caused after 200 rivers burst their banks.

High-speed bullet train links between Nagano and Joetsu-Myoko are still suspended, three days after the typhoon subsided.

The northeastern prefectures of Miyagi and Fukushima experienced the worst of the typhoon and 40 of the deaths were in these regions.

About 60 per cent of the 5,500 people who remain in temporary shelters following the storm are also in the two prefectures.

Floodwater had subsided in Japan's capital city, Tokyo, and businesses were operating as usual again.

Japan experiences many typhoons each year but it is uncommon for typhoons of such ferocity to hail from the east and to hit the capital city so hard.