Elderly woman with apparent heat stroke found dead while taking shelter in car

An elderly woman who developed heat stroke while taking shelter in a car is the latest fatality from a powerful earthquake that struck Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto last week, officials said as concerns over heat-related illnesses grow in an area that is also suffering extreme temperatures.



The woman in her 70s with apparent heat stroke was found in a car, Kumamoto officials said, as they raised the death toll from the quake to 36.



The magnitude-7.1 earthquake 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 exercise to avoid blood clotting risks.