Kumamoto - An elderly woman was rescued from a collapsed home by five Vietnamese workers as the death toll from the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake rose to 34 on July 30, while severe water shortages disrupted daily life and hampered firefighting across the disaster zone.
Two full days have passed since the earthquake struck, and aerial footage has revealed the extent of the destruction.
The tense rescue unfolded on the roof of a collapsed house in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, where an intensity of upper 6 on Japan's seven-point seismic scale was recorded.
According to Vietnamese state media and other sources, five Vietnamese nationals who came to Japan under the specified skilled worker program discovered the collapsed house shortly after the earthquake.
An elderly woman who lived alone had been trapped inside.
With no rescue equipment available, the five removed roof tiles and other debris with their bare hands. They also used saws and other tools to clear obstacles and worked with local residents to pull the woman to safety.
Rescue activity intensified shortly before noon on July 30 at another collapsed home in Yatsushiro, where a resident was believed to have been buried. Blue sheets were placed around the house, suggesting that the resident may have been found.
The earthquake's death toll had reached 34 as of 3 p.m. on July 30, including people whose deaths were still being investigated for a possible connection to the disaster.
In Minami Ward, Kumamoto City, where an upper 6 intensity was recorded, powerful sprays of water had erupted beside a road.
A visit to the site on July 30 showed that moss-like material normally attached to the walls of a large irrigation channel had been thrown onto the roadway, illustrating the force of the quake's horizontal shaking.
Drone footage near the Yatsushiro Junction on the Minami Kyushu Expressway, close to the epicenter, showed a long, straight crack across the ground that appeared to have been caused by fault displacement.
A junior high school student who encountered the earthquake while returning home from a cram school during summer vacation described the fear of the moment.
"It was frightening. We all stayed together, crouched down and covered our heads," the student said.
Dangerous heat has continued to affect the disaster zone, while widespread water outages have created a serious shortage.
A child said the lack of running water had made even basic hygiene difficult. "I don't like it because I can't wash my face or my hands because there is no water," the child said.
In Yatsushiro, where about 18,000 households remained without water, long lines formed for emergency supplies. One water truck ran out before everyone could be served and had to leave to refill its tank.
Residents smiled and applauded when the truck returned.
The shortage also caused difficulties during a house fire in Uki, Kumamoto Prefecture. Water pressure from firefighters' hoses weakened and at one point ran out, complicating efforts to extinguish the blaze because of the outage.
At Aeon Mall Kumamoto, where an explosion occurred following the earthquake, two more deaths were confirmed on July 30, raising the number of fatalities at the mall to seven.
Police released footage of the day's search operation, showing police dogs working through a vast field of rubble inside the shopping complex.
In Yatsushiro, collapsed buildings blocked roads, while other structures had fallen into rivers.
A woman who was at home when the earthquake struck and later evacuated to a friend's residence said her house had continued to deteriorate as aftershocks persisted.
"It is definitely collapsing. It is falling toward the other side, near the upper section," she said.
Although the house initially remained standing, repeated aftershocks have left it close to collapse.
"The pillars are bent, and the house has sunk even further than yesterday," she said. "The pillars are so weak that it looks as though it could collapse at any time."
Source: FNN
