Japan: New Year's quake kills 126 people, new report says

Emergency services are tirelessly searching the rubble of the devastating earthquake in central Japan on New Year's Eve that killed 126 people and injured 516 others on Saturday, January 6, according to a recent report.

Around 210 people remain missing, according to local authorities, but hopes of finding survivors are dwindling almost five days after the disaster. Weather conditions were expected to make rescuers' task even more difficult, with rain and snow expected this weekend and temperatures near zero degrees.

The magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on the afternoon of January 1 devastated this narrow strip of land about a hundred kilometers long that juts into the Sea of ​​Japan, causing landslides and the collapse of buildings and roads . The shock, which was felt as far as Tokyo, 300 kilometers away, also triggered a tsunami: waves over a meter high hit the coasts in places, swept away houses and streets along the sea and threw boats inland.

• 

  At the earthquake-damaged market in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, Tuesday, January 2, 2024. ñÓìáêíãM / AP

• 

  A collapsed building after the earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. 矢島崇貴 / AP

• 

  Destroyed houses along the coast in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. 西詰真吾 / AP

• 

  A burned car and debris in the marketplace in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. ñÓìáêíãM / AP

• 

  A bridge with multiple cracks in Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. 仙石高記 / AP

• 

  Three residents in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. 矢島崇貴 / AP

• 

  Smoke rises from the fire site following the earthquakes in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. AP

• 

  A man walks past a damaged shrine in Ujima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. KIM KYUNG-HOON/Portal

• 

  This aerial photo provided by Jiji Press shows capsized boats and others left ashore at the fishing port of Suzu city in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on January 2, 2024. STR/AFP

• 

  Railway workers evacuate water after broken pipes at Kanazawa Station, capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 1, 2024. KYODO/via Portal

• 

  On a partially collapsed road near the city of Anamizu, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. Hiro Komae / AP

• 

  A collapsed house in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. KIM KYUNG-HOON / Portal

• 

  An earthquake-damaged street in Anamizumachi, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. 西詰真吾 / AP

• 

  View of a car stuck in a road crack near Ujima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. KIM KYUNG-HOON / Portal

• 

  In front of a destroyed candle shop in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. 安本夏望 / AP

• 

  Collapsed houses in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 2, 2024. KYODO/via Portal

25,000 households still have no water and 70,000 no electricity

According to Ishikawa department, where the Noto Peninsula is located, more than 30,000 people were displaced as of Saturday in around 350 evacuation centers, often in precarious conditions, especially in the hardest-to-reach areas.

“I don’t think we received any equipment or food in significant quantities,” laments Takushi, 59, who lives in the village of Noto at the tip of the peninsula. He said he neglected to collect food rations from a nearby animal shelter so that they could be distributed to the aging population and young children.

“We are doing our best to carry out rescue operations in remote villages (…). “But the reality is that their isolation has not been resolved as much as we would like,” Ishikawa Governor Hiroshi Hase admitted on Friday. In this and two other departments further north, almost 25,000 households were still without electricity and more than 70,000 households without water on Saturday morning.

Volunteer request

In order not to hinder relief efforts and the delivery of food to refugees, local authorities have urged people outside the Noto Peninsula, which is usually a tourist destination, not to travel there for “unnecessary travel” or for urgent purposes. They also asked those who want to volunteer for the clearance work to wait until the end of the three-day weekend, as this Monday is a public holiday in Japan, as there is a lack of organization to welcome and guide them.

That earthquake, followed by hundreds of lower-intensity aftershocks, was described by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as the “worst disaster” of Reiwa, the Japanese era that began in 2019 with the accession of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. Several countries, including the United States and France, have offered assistance to Japan, and many have expressed condolences, including China and North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong-un expressed his “deep sympathy” in a message addressed to Mr. Kishida.

Japan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is one of the countries with the most frequent earthquakes. The Japanese archipelago is haunted by the memory of the terrible magnitude 9 earthquake that struck its northeastern coasts in March 2011, followed by a huge tsunami, a disaster that left some 20,000 people dead or missing. This disaster also led to the Fukushima nuclear accident, the worst since Chernobyl in 1986.

The world with AFP