Japan: 82 dead, 79 missing and little hope of finding earthquake survivors
- January 4, 2024
- 0
Rescue teams were racing against time to find what may be the last survivors of the earthquake that rocked central Japan on Monday and left at least 82
Rescue teams were racing against time to find what may be the last survivors of the earthquake that rocked central Japan on Monday and left at least 82 dead and 79 missing.
Ishikawa Prefecture, which covers different cities, in the western strip of the center of the island of Honshu (the main island of the country), it was here that the earthquake occurred and to this day the main destruction is concentrated, as well as all the dead and missing reported to local authorities.
Cities such as Wajima (27,000 inhabitants) or Suzu (14,000 inhabitants) were the focus of military and rescue teams today as 72 hours passed (period after which finding buried survivors is considered very difficult under the rubble) from a shock of magnitude 7.6, the epicenter of which was several kilometers from both cities.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for “maximum efforts” to try to find living people in the region.
In Wajima alone there are 48 dead and 36 missing.and 23 died to Susa and 32 people remain missing.
Destroyed roads and hundreds of Japanese without communication with the outside world
Access problems are another big problem for rescuers and the population, as in these two municipalities alone, 750 people are still incommunicado due to the earthquake, which lifted the ground, causing level differences of four meters, It destroyed countless roads and trails.
Photo: EFE
According to the Kyodo news agency, the warship managed to land heavy equipment in Wajima to begin repairing these roads.
Experts also warned tremors this week and the next one, which could be very intense, in addition to warning that rains lashing the area could cause landslides and further complicate rescue efforts.
Today the number of wounded exceeds Ishikawa 300, between serious and minor injuries, while in the entire prefecture, where more than 200 buildings are estimated to have collapsed, some 34,000 people remain in evacuation centers.
The fact that the quake struck on January 1, when many people had traveled to the region to celebrate New Year’s with their families, means that more people were evacuated than local authorities usually expected, and reports on the NHK network said there was a shortage of food, water or warm water. clothes in some shelters.
Japanese planes, ships and 2000 soldiers
Until this Thursday, January 4th, some 2 thousand members of the Self-Defense Forces (Army) were deployed to the region, in addition to 22 aircraft and eight ships for rescue efforts and damage intelligence, doubling the resources that were originally deployed.
The Japanese leader said that about 4 billion yen will be used (about $28 million) in emergency funds to increase assistance in Ishikawa, which includes doubling the current strength of the Self-Defense Forces to 4,600 troops.
Photo: EFE
The earthquake, which occurred on the Noto Peninsula – an area known to have active faults – struck at 4:10 pm local time (7:10 GMT) on Monday and had an epicenter 30 kilometers northeast of Wajima. reaching level 7. scale 7 that the focus is on the destructive power of tremor.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) believes that during a magnitude 7 earthquake, it is impossible to stand and the only way to move is by crawling on the ground.
This earthquake is the most destructive in Japan since the 2016 Kumamoto Prefecture earthquake (killing more than 200 people). the first level 7 registered in the country since 2018, when the earthquake reached this range in a very sparsely populated area of ​​Hokkaido.
Monday’s aftershocks prompted a major tsunami warning (those issued when waves over three meters are expected) to be activated for several hours, the first time the country had done so since a 9-degree quake on the Richter scale. Northeast of the country in 2011.
The earthquake caused a tsunami that killed more than 20,000 people and partially destroyed three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986.
(EFE)
Source: Aristegui Noticias
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