Japanese rescuers search through the rubble this Saturday, five days after the powerful earthquake that hit the center of the country on the day of New Year and they already add up to at least 126 the dead.
According to Japanese authorities, the death toll of the magnitude 7.5 earthquake that hit the prefecture of Ishikawa on Monday continue to increase, since there are more than 200 people missing.
The work of lifeguards has been hampered by the bad weatherwhich will be aggravated by the snow fall predicted for Sunday, and by the damage to the routes, which are almost unusable.
The AFP news agency reported that two elderly women were rescued alive from the ruins of their homes on Thursday, but there has been no new encouraging news since then.
In Suzu, where dozens of homes were left in ruins, a rescue dog helped in the rescue efforts.
“They are trained to bark when they detect a person in the rubble,” Masayo Kikuchi, their trainer, explained to AFP.
The houses where the dead are found are marked and the rescuers wait for the arrival of a forensic expert who can identify the body along with the relatives.
In the city’s port, fishing boats were seen sunk or washed up on the coast by the waves of the tsunami caused by the earthquake, which is feared to have swept away at least one person.
Damage is also extensive in Wajima and other parts of Ishikawa prefecture, located on the coast of the Sea of Japan.
In addition, strong aftershocks have shaken the region since Monday’s devastating earthquake, which caused landslides, a major fire and a tsunami with waves more than a meter high.
“I was relaxing on New Year’s Day when the earthquake started. My relatives were all there and we were having fun,” Hiroyuki Hamatani, 53, told AFP amid burned vehicles and fallen poles.
“The house was left standing but it is not habitable (…) I don’t have space in my mind to think about the future,” he added.
Nearly 23,800 homes were left without electricity in the Ishikawa region and more than 66,400 are without drinking water. Water and power outages have also affected hospitals and care facilities for the elderly and disabled.
More than 31,400 people have been housed in 357 shelters and many communities remain isolated.
“We are doing our best to carry out rescues in isolated cities (…) However, the reality is that the isolation has not been resolved to the extent that we would like,” admitted yesterday the regional governor, Hiroshi Hase. .
Japan experiences hundreds of earthquakes every year. Most do not cause damage thanks to strict building regulations that have been in place for more than four decades.
In 2011, a large magnitude 9 underwater earthquake triggered a tsunami that left about 18,500 dead or missing.
The earthquake also caused damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, causing one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.
Source: Ambito
