Japan quake victim dies of heatstroke while sheltering in car amid ‘extreme heat’ warning

Many people choose to sleep in their cars for privacy as more than 9,000 people remain in crowded evacuation centres

The woman in her seventies with heatstroke was found in a car, Kumamoto officials said, as they raised the death toll from the quake to 36. The magnitude 7.1 hit Kumamoto prefecture on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday.

This latest death was what officials and experts had worried about amid high temperatures.

Kumamoto authorities were to start delivering leaflets to those taking shelter in their cars, urging them to stay in cool places and take sufficient liquids, and regularly take exercise to avoid blood clotting risks.

NHK public television said the woman was found dead on Thursday in a car without petrol.