Death Toll Rises as Private Hospitals Report More Quake Victims

The death toll from the Kobe earthquake jumped by 139 to 5,243 Friday after private hospitals reported more victims from Japan’s worst natural disaster in 72 years.

Police in Hyogo prefecture, where Kobe is the largest city, said they were investigating 100 deaths that might also be added to the quake death toll.

National police said six people were still missing and 26,804 had been injured in the Jan. 17 quake. The magnitude of the temblor was reported as 7.2 by the Japanese but was measured at 6.8 by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.

More than 107,000 homes and buildings were destroyed or damaged. On Thursday, the Hyogo government estimated that damage in the prefecture will probably exceed $100 billion.

The government said it planned a lottery to raise funds for reconstruction.

Nobuo Hidaka, spokesman for Hyogo prefecture, said police revised the death toll after surveying private hospitals where some of the injured later died.

Hyogo plans to build 70,000 prefabricated homes for 230,000 homeless people who have been living in tents and government buildings. Families were occupying 61 of the homes, officials said.

Kimiko Ishibitsu, 70, moved into her new home Thursday on hard-hit Awaji Island near Kobe. She called it “wonderful,” although it was just two rooms and about the size of a toolshed.

Ishibitsu’s house was badly damaged in the quake, but she was able to salvage some furniture, she said Friday.

“I am giving my thanks to city officials for letting me into the house so early,” she said.

The temporary houses--single-family homes with wooden floors and a tin roof--are being built on public and park land, as well as private land lent by companies and individuals.

They are equipped with gas, water, electricity and a telephone line. Rent is free, but inhabitants pay for utilities.

Quake victims living in the temporary homes will continue to receive food rations and other supplies such as clothing, said Hiromu Sanda, a town official in Hyogo.

Many people will have to spend two to three more months in shelters before housing is available, the Hyogo government said.

The Kobe quake was Japan’s deadliest since 1923, when a temblor in the Tokyo region killed more than 142,000 people.