On Thursday, April 14th a magnitude-6.5 earthquake hit Japan in the south-western island of Kyushu. Many had to evacuate their homes or were crushed under the rubble waiting for the rescue team. On Saturday the 16th, a second earthquake, this one of a 7.3 magnitude, struck within miles of the first without giving the residents any time to recover.

Since April 16th, over seven hundred small tremors hit the Kumamoto province where Kyushu is located, a few reaching about a 5 in magnitude.

The total has racked up to forty-eight dead, two hundred and twenty-one seriously injured and over a thousand injured in some way. With almost ten thousand homes destroyed, nearly a hundred thousand people sit in evacuation centers.

Many of the evacuated are too terrified to return even if they still have homes due to the looming threat of further tremors. Buildings have been repeatedly shaken to the point of being condemned by the government. Frequent rain has caused landslides due to the loosened earth, destroying even more homes.

Fear has risen due to the amount of people sitting too long in the evacuation centers, leading to health problems. One woman died due to blood clotting and twelve others have been hospitalized for similar ailments.

Shortages in food, water and housing have stricken the prefecture. A hospital had to rely on the donations in water and food by volunteers in order to wash their hands after treating patients. About one hundred people had to resort to living in an opened prison alongside several hundred inmates. With two people still missing, about twenty-five rescue and police officers are working to recover from the devastation.