(Suzu) The powerful earthquake that shook central Japan on 1er January left at least 161 dead, while 103 people are still missing, according to a new count announced Monday morning by local authorities.
The 7.5 magnitude earthquake also left some 560 injured, according to a press release from the Ishikawa department, the most affected by the disaster.
The earthquake, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, caused the collapse of buildings and roads, and also triggered a tsunami, waves more than a meter high crashing onto the coast of the Noto peninsula, a narrow strip of land about a hundred kilometers long stretching into the Sea of Japan.
The tremor was felt as far away as Tokyo, 300 kilometers away.
The thousands of rescuers from all over Japan, who continue to explore the rubble in search of bodies, must deal with the snow which fell on the Noto peninsula on Monday, depositing in layers of more than 10 cm in places .
New landslides due to precipitation are feared and icy conditions are expected to further complicate traffic on roads damaged by the earthquake, authorities have warned.
Damaged roads
A nonagenarian was able to be extracted alive from the rubble on Saturday after spending five days under the debris of her collapsed house in Suzu, at the tip of the peninsula.
She was able to answer questions clearly when she was rescued and taken to a hospital for treatment, public broadcaster NHK said. ” Hold fast ! “, rescuers shouted to him in the rain, in a video shot by the police and broadcast by local media. ” Everything’s gonna Be Alright ! », “stay positive”.
Many were less fortunate: 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 will remain alone,” he told NHK.
Rescue services are also continuing their efforts to reach people isolated due to roads damaged by the earthquake, and to deliver food and equipment to them.
Some 29,000 people were sheltering in 404 government shelters on Sunday, according to the Ishikawa department.
This earthquake is the first to cause the death of more than 100 people in Japan since the devastating earthquake in Kumamoto (southwest) which left 276 dead in 2016.
Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Japan is one of the countries with the most frequent earthquakes.
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.