Quake damage in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture estimated at 37.76 bln USD

Earthquake-related damage following powerful temblors rocking Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture in April was estimated to be in the region of 3.8 trillion yen (37.76 billion U.S. dollars), local media quoted prefectural sources as saying Wednesday.

Costs related to around 170,000 homes being damaged following the 6.4-magnitude quake centered in the prefecture on Japan's southwestern Kyushu island that struck on April 14 and was followed by another powerful 7.3 magnitude tremor two days later, were estimated to be 2 trillion yen.

The region's businesses, meanwhile, incurred quake-related damage costs to the tune of 820 billion yen, while infrastructure damage, including costs related to damaged roads and bridges came to 268.5 billion yen, Kyodo News reported.

Damage to cultural property was estimated to amount to around 93.6 billion yen's worth of damage and that to the region's agricultural sector pegged at almost 150 billion yen.

Initial estimates from the central government made in May, a month after the devastating quakes, were for total damages of between 1.8 trillion to 3.8 trillion yen.

On Wednesday, the prefectural government in Hokkaido also said that costs related to four typhoons and an extratropical storm hitting Japan's northernmost prefecture from August totaled 278.6 billion yen's worth of damage, local media sources also reported. Endit