Japan updates Monday’s earthquake death toll to 126

AThe searches have been hampered by damage to infrastructure and the forecast of rain and snowfall in the region, according to the Spanish agency EFE.

The earthquake, which hit Ishikawa prefecture in central Japan, caused considerable damage to roads, houses and other buildings in the region.

Authorities believe hundreds of people remain trapped or isolated while waiting for rescue services to arrive.

Repeated aftershocks, including one of magnitude 5.3 recorded today, and adverse weather conditions have caused new landslides and floods in the affected areas.

In a report released at 5pm local time (8am in Lisbon), authorities updated the effects of the strong earthquake to 126 deaths and 516 injuries, most of which were in the cities of Wajima and Suzu.

There are also 210 people reported missing and whose identities have been made public in an attempt to help locate them.

A mudslide caused by today’s aftershock swept away dozens of houses in the city of Anamizu, killing at least three people and leaving another 12 buried, according to authorities.

More than 72 hours after Monday’s catastrophe, which is considered the key time to find survivors, rescue services continued to search among the rubble of the collapsed buildings.

The searches also cover areas that were buried by landslides or flooded by the ‘tsunami’ triggered by the earthquake, which reached up to four meters in some coastal areas.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called on all ministries, agencies and local authorities involved in the rescue efforts to “make every effort to try to save as many lives as possible.”

The appeal was made during an emergency operations coordination meeting, according to local media.

Due to damage to infrastructure, authorities have also had difficulty transporting food and drinking water to the approximately 31,000 people who remain sheltered in approximately 357 reception centers.

Monday’s earthquake is already the deadliest in Japan since 2011, when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake caused a ‘tsunami’ that left more than 20,000 dead and triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the worst since Chernobyl (Ukraine). ) in 1986.

In an unusual gesture from neighboring North Korea, leader Kim Jong-un sent a message of condolences to Fumio Kishida, the official North Korean agency Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported today.

Japan previously received messages of solidarity and promises of help from US President Joe Biden and other allies.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said Japan was grateful for all the messages, including that from North Korea.

Hayashi said the last time Japan received a condolence message from North Korea over a disaster was in 1995.

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