More than half of Typhoon No. 19's identified victims were 70 years old or older, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. With a large number of rivers having flooded in areas hit by the typhoon that devastated eastern Japan, the fact came to light that many elderly people having difficulty evacuating on their own became victims.
Of 65 victims whose identities have been confirmed, 33 were 70 years old or older. Causes of death for 53 victims have been confirmed through newsgathering, and about 80 percent of them died from drowning.
In disaster-hit areas, the whereabouts of 16 people are still unknown, and police and firefighters continued to search for them Friday.
The death toll in the typhoon reached 78 in Tokyo and 11 prefectures as of 7 p.m. Thursday. Of them, a total of eight people died due to the sinking of a foreign ship or rescue mistakes by firefighters. Excluding such victims, The Yomiuri Shimbun asked relevant municipalities and police about the remaining 70 victims and analyzed their age composition and death situations.
Of the 70, the identities of 65 people have been confirmed by police, the breakdown of which is as follows: three people under 20 years of age; 29 aged 20 to 69; 16 in their 70s; 11 in their 80s; four in their 90s; and two centenarians.
Of 32 bodies recovered from houses flooded or collapsed in mudslides and areas surrounding the houses, 20 were 70 years old or older. Including people in their 60s, the number rose to 27, accounting for more than 80 percent of all such victims. Some of the elderly victims called firefighters and others for help because they were unable to escape on their own to evacuation centers or higher places.
Of 53 people whose causes of death have been confirmed through newsgathering, 80 percent died from drowning, including those believed to have been drowned.
In addition to flooding of houses, there were many cases in which cars heading for evacuation centers or other places at night fell into rivers while driving and were swept away, causing 21 people to die. Five people were crushed or choked to death at their homes.
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