20 July
NHK has learned that a shelter in a rain-hit city in southwestern Japan was unable to accept some evacuees as its capacity had been limited to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Officials in the city of Hita, Oita Prefecture, say that more than 100 houses were submerged by torrential rain earlier this month. They say up to 610 evacuees had been staying in 37 shelters as of July 7.
The officials had reduced shelter capacity by about 60 percent to maintain social distancing.
But the number of people who came to a shelter in the Otsuru district on July 6 exceeded the set limit. An evacuation order had been issued for the district at the time.
Officials decided to use additional rooms in the facility, but still had to turn away four evacuees due to the lack of space.
They say the four people were taken to another shelter in a neighboring district.
NHK
