Boxes of surgical masks, bottles of disinfectant and a sign asking visitors to "Please wear a mask" can be seen at the entrance to a public gym in the city of Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, which has become a shelter this week for residents fleeing devastating floods.
Inside, cardboard partitions separate sleeping areas for 233 evacuees. Another sign instructs them to check their temperature each morning, then sterilize the thermometers.
The measures show how challenging it is for the nation to deal with natural disasters in the time of the novel coronavirus.