2024-01-08 05:36:25
According to a new count announced Monday morning by local authorities, the powerful earthquake that shook central Japan on January 1 left at least 161 dead. More than 2,000 people remain isolated as heavy snow disrupts relief operations.
Published on: 01/08/2024 – 06:36 Modified on: 01/08/2024 – 06:37
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The toll from the powerful earthquake that shook central Japan on January 1 continues to rise. It left at least 161 dead, 560 injured and 103 people still missing, according to a new count announced Monday January 8 by the Ishikawa department, the most affected by the disaster.
The earthquake, followed by hundreds of followingshocks, caused thousands of landslides, the collapse of buildings and roads, and fires. It also triggered a tsunami with waves more than a meter high on the coast of the Noto Peninsula, a narrow strip of land regarding 100 kilometers long stretching into the Sea of Japan.
The thousands of rescuers from all over Japan, who continue to explore the rubble in search of bodies, must deal with the snow which fell on the Noto peninsula on Monday, depositing in layers of more than 10 cm in places , and temperatures not exceeding 4°C.
New landslides due to precipitation are feared and icy conditions are expected to further complicate traffic on roads damaged by the earthquake, authorities have warned.
The emergency services are also continuing their efforts to reach more than 2,000 people, sometimes in critical situations, isolated due to roads damaged by the earthquake, and to deliver them food and equipment.
The governor of the Ishikawa department, Hiroshi Hase, stressed to the public television channel NHK that it was necessary “at all costs to prevent deaths” among the refugees from the disaster, while some 29,000 people were sheltered on Sunday in 404 government shelters.
“Providing people with the minimum amount of humanitarian aid so that they can survive is a challenge,” Hisayoshi Kondo, head of a medical assistance team dispatched to the site, explained on the Asahi TV channel, estimating that “in isolated areas, the supply of water and food is still insufficient.
But because of the difficult access to places where residents have taken refuge, even “sending relief materials from the whole country does not solve the problem”, commented this doctor.
A critical health situation in shelters
According to the mayor of the town of Wajima, where many buildings were ravaged by fires following the earthquake, the health situation is critical in the shelters.
“Evacuation centers are crowded and infectious diseases such as norovirus and Covid are appearing,” warned Shigeru Sakaguchi on Sunday during a meeting on aid to disaster victims, according to the daily Asahi.
The Ishikawa governor said authorities were preparing additional places of refuge with sufficient water, food and heaters, including requisitioning hotel rooms.
Around 18,000 homes were still without electricity, and 66,000 homes did not have access to running water on Sunday.
This earthquake is the first to cause the death of more than 100 people in Japan since the devastating Kumamoto earthquake (southwest) which killed 276 people in 2016. Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan is the one of the countries where earthquakes are most frequent.
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