Authorities confirmed Tuesday that the death toll from the powerful earthquake that leveled portions of central Japan on January 1 had surpassed 200, with just over 100 still unaccounted for.
The 7.5 magnitude earthquake on Japan’s main Honshu’s Noto Peninsula wrecked and overturned buildings, ignited fires, and knocked down infrastructure just as families were celebrating New Year’s Day.
Eight days later, thousands of rescuers were battling blocked roads and bad weather to clear the wreckage and reach the over 3,500 people who remained trapped in isolated communities.
On Tuesday, Ishikawa regional authorities announced that 202 individuals had been confirmed dead, up from 180 earlier in the day, and 102 had gone missing down from 120.
Authorities more than tripled the number of missing to 323 on Monday when central databases were updated, with the majority of the majority of the increase attributed to the severely damaged Wajima.
With heavy snow in certain areas hindering relief operations, about 30,000 people were residing in around 400 government shelters as of Monday, some of which were overcrowded and straining to provide appropriate food, water, and heating.
Almost 60,000 houses were without running water and 15,600 were without electricity.
Days of rain have exacerbated road conditions, contributing to an estimated 1,000 landslides.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida directed ministers to make efforts to resolve the state of isolation (of communities) and continue tenacious rescue activities at the daily disaster-relief cabinet meeting.
Kishida also urged secondary evacuations to areas outside the quake zone, according to Yoshimasa Hayashi, the top government spokesperson.
Every year, hundreds of earthquakes strike Japan, albeit the vast majority inflict no damage due to strict building rules in place for more than four decades.
However, many structures are older, particularly in increasingly aging rural areas like Noto.
The country is scarred by the 2011 monster quake, which created a tsunami, killed or went missing approximately 18,500 people, and caused a nuclear catastrophe at the Fukushima plant.
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