2024-01-07 10:35:24
A nonagenarian was able to be pulled out alive from the rubble in the debris of her collapsed house in Suzu, at the tip of the peninsula, five days after the earthquake which left at least 128 dead in central Japan. She was conscious and could answer questions clearly when she was rescued and taken to hospital for treatment, public broadcaster NHK reported. ” Hold fast ! »rescuers shouted to him in the rain, in a video shot by police and broadcast by local media. ” Everything’s gonna Be Alright ! », “stay positive”.
The 7.5 magnitude earthquake which devastated the Noto Peninsula on January 1, on the coast of the Sea of Japan, on the western coast of the archipelago, also left 560 injured, and 195 people remain missing, according to a new report announced Sunday afternoon by local authorities.
In the town of Anamizu, also on the peninsula, a 52-year-old man who learned of the deaths of his 21-year-old son and his in-laws was waiting for news of other members of his family. “I want them to be alive. It is unthinkable that I remain alone”, he told NHK. Elsewhere in the city, an Agence France-Presse photographer saw rescuers dressed in orange and blue raincoats carrying the body of a landslide victim, covered with a blue tarpaulin.
Rain and snowfall expected
The earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, caused the collapse of buildings and roads, a thousand landslides and fires, particularly in Wajima, where authorities believe many residents are still under the rubble. The tremor, felt as far away as Tokyo, 300 kilometers away, also triggered a tsunami, with waves more than a meter high.
Inside the earthquake-damaged market in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, Tuesday, January 2, 2024. ñÓìáêíãM / AP
A collapsed building following 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 at the market square 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 site of a fire 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/REUTERS
This aerial photo provided by Jiji Press shows capsized boats and others left ashore at the fishing port in the town of Suzu, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, on January 2, 2024. STR/AFP
Railway workers evacuate water following broken pipes at Kanazawa Station, the capital of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, January 1, 2024. KYODO/via REUTERS
On a partially collapsed road near the town 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 / REUTERS
A road damaged by earthquakes 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 / REUTERS
In front of a destroyed candle store 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 REUTERS
Rescuers are continuing their efforts to search for people still missing or isolated due to roads damaged by the earthquake, and to deliver food and equipment to the victims. More than 30,000 people were sheltering in 366 government shelters on Saturday, according to the Ishikawa department.
However, the weather conditions are expected to deteriorate there from Sunday, with rain and heavy snow expected in places, with the Japanese weather agency also warning of the risks of hypothermia. New landslides due to precipitation are also feared on Sunday, and icy conditions are expected to further make traffic difficult on roads damaged by the earthquake.
20,000 homes still without electricity
Due to poor road conditions, the Japan Self-Defense Forces sent a small group of soldiers on foot to each of the isolated communities and deployed helicopters, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday.
“Alongside these efforts, it is necessary to improve the housing and health conditions of people affected by the disaster”because this situation is expected to continue, added Mr. Kishida, estimating that “sustained and long-term efforts” would be necessary to rebuild devastated areas. Some 20,000 homes remained without electricity in Ishikawa on Sunday morning.
This earthquake is the first to cause the death of more than a hundred people in Japan since the devastating Kumamoto earthquake which left 276 dead in 2016.
Located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, Japan is one of the countries where earthquakes are most frequent. The archipelago is haunted by the memory of the terrible 9.0 magnitude earthquake followed by a giant tsunami in March 2011 on its northeast coasts, a disaster which left some 20,000 dead and missing. This disaster also led to the Fukushima nuclear accident, the most serious since Chernobyl in 1986.
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