The 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the western coast of Japan on Monday has left at least 50 dead, while rescue efforts and the search for people trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings continue, according to local official sources.
The city of Wajima, about 500 kilometers from Tokyo and located very close to the epicenter of the earthquake, is one of the hardest hit by the earthquake that caused the collapse of about 25 buildings, many of them private homes, in this town of about 27,000 inhabitants. It is believed that there may still be people trapped under the remains of 14 of these buildings, according to a report by broadcaster NHK citing the local fire department, which is in charge of rescue operations.
Images of the Earthquake in Japan
Among the deceased are 19 victims in the city of Wajima, 20 in Suzu, 5 in Nanao, 2 in Anamizu, 1 in Hakui, and 1 in Shiga, all of them in Ishikawa prefecture, which has suffered significant structural damage and fires. In each of these cities, dozens of people were taken to the hospital, and rescue efforts are continuing, so the death toll is expected to increase in the coming hours. Footage taken by public broadcaster NHK on Tuesday morning showed a seven-story building collapsed and smoke rising in a central area of Wajima known for its morning market.
A fire broke out in this prefecture that has affected more than 200 structures and persists in some areas, although the chances of it spreading further are slim, according to officials. The Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, held a press conference this morning in which he said that he will be in charge of disaster management: “I will be the general director, I will mobilize the Self-Defense Forces, the Japan Coast Guard, to the firefighters and the police.”
The president assured that it is extremely difficult for vehicles to access the areas in the north of the Noto peninsula and that the government has already sent supplies by ship. The leader of the Japanese Executive asked the residents of the affected areas “to act safely”, since “the risk of house collapses and landslides is increasing in the points where the tremors were strong.” Around 1,000 Japanese Self-Defense Forces personnel are participating in rescue operations and more than 46,000 people remain evacuated in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures.
The number of homes without electricity, mainly in Ishikawa, is in the tens of thousands. Fortunately, the rise in sea level detected in different Japanese locations, and even in neighboring South Korea, did not cause significant damage.
The Earthquake in Japan and the Nuclear Plants
Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said today that there have been no reports of direct damage to the country’s nuclear power plants. “We have not received any reports of direct damage from the earthquake or tsunami at the Hokuriku Electric Power nuclear power plant in the city of Shiga, which is closed, and there have been no reports of anomalies at other nuclear power plants.”
This story was written in Spanish by Miguel Fernandez in Cultura Colectiva.
