Sunday marks eight years since a deadly earthquake hit the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Kumamoto.

On April 14, 2016, a quake of seven on the Japanese scale of zero to seven hit the town of Mashiki. Another quake with the same intensity struck the same town two days later. Quakes of this level have never hit the same area twice since record-keeping began.

The series of quakes left 276 people dead in Kumamoto and neighboring Oita prefectures including disaster-related deaths.

More than 198,000 homes were either damaged or destroyed in 40 municipalities in Kumamoto.

All temporary housing was closed in March, last year after many residents found permanent residences to live in, such as public housing for quake survivors. Up to 47,800 survivors lived in temporary housing at one time.

NHK interviewed municipal governments about people who moved into the public housing for quake survivors. NHK has learned a man and a woman, both in their 70s, were found dead between April 2023 and March 2024 with one of them found two days after her death.

The officials say 37 percent of the 1,663 households residing in public housing are elderly people living by themselves.

Kumamoto Prefectural government says it will work closely with municipal governments to better understand isolated survivors and support those who have moved into public housing.