Japan faces "frequent" disasters as flood toll reaches 200

Evacuees take rest at Okada elementary school that is used as an evacuation center in Mabi town in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, Japan July 12, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato

KURASHIKI, Japan (Reuters) - Japan risks more severe weather and must find ways to alleviate disasters, a government spokesman said on Thursday, as intense heat and water shortages raised fear of disease among survivors of last week's floods and landslides.

Torrential rain in western Japan caused the country's worst weather disaster in 36 years, killing 200 people, many in communities that have existed for decades on mountain slopes and flood plains largely untroubled by storms.