The death toll from the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit central Japan on Monday rose to 126 this Saturday, while the search for more than 200 missing people continues, Japanese authorities announced.
The searches have been hampered by damage to infrastructure and the forecast of rain and snowfall in the region, according to the Spanish agency EFE.
The earthquake that hit Ishikawa prefecture in central Japan caused considerable damage to roads, homes and other buildings in the region.
Authorities believe hundreds of people remain trapped or isolated as they wait for rescue services to arrive.
Repeated aftershocks, including one of magnitude 5.3 recorded this Saturday, and adverse weather conditions have caused new landslides and flooding in the affected areas.
In a report published at 5:00 p.m. local time (8:00 a.m. in Lisbon), the authorities updated the effects of the strong earthquake at 126 dead and 516 injured, most of whom were in the cities of Wajima and Suzu.
There are also 210 people reported missing and whose identities have been made public in an attempt to help locate them.
A landslide caused by this Saturday’s aftershock destroyed dozens of homes in the city of Anamizu, killing at least three people and leaving 12 others buried, according to authorities.
More than 72 hours after Monday’s disaster, which is considered the key moment for finding survivors, rescue services were still searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings.
The searches also cover areas that were buried by landslides or flooded by the ‘tsunami’ caused by the earthquake, which reached up to four meters in some coastal areas.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called on all ministries, agencies and local authorities involved in the rescue efforts to “make every effort to try to save as many lives as possible.”
The call was made during an emergency operations coordination meeting, according to local media.
Due to damage to infrastructure, authorities have also had difficulties transporting food and drinking water to the approximately 31,000 people who remain sheltered in approximately 357 shelters.
Monday’s earthquake is already the deadliest in Japan since 2011, when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake caused a ‘tsunami’ that left more than 20,000 dead and triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the worst since Chernobyl (Ukraine) in 1986. .
In an unusual gesture from neighboring North Korea, leader Kim Jong-un sent a message of condolences to Fumio Kishida, the official North Korean Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported this Saturday.
Japan previously received messages of solidarity and promises of aid from US President Joe Biden and other allies.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japan was grateful for all the messages, including from North Korea.
Hayashi said the last time Japan received a message of condolence from North Korea over a disaster was in 1995.
Source: TSF
