THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 4, 2024 at 13:48 JST
KANAZAWA--A 72-hour “window” to find survivors from the Jan. 1 earthquake approached with word that the death toll had risen and more people are now unaccounted for.
There were fears that victims trapped under collapsed buildings from the magnitude-7.6 earthquake in Ishikawa Prefecture would start succumbing to dehydration, hypothermia and psychological stress.
As of 3 p.m. o Jan. 4, the death toll from the quake stood at 84. Authorities said the figure included 48 fatalities in Wajima and 23 in Suzu, both cities in the Noto Peninsula.
Prefectural officials said 79 people remained unaccounted for as of 2 p.m. on Jan. 4.
The number of people who suffered injuries totaled 305, some seriously.
Dozens of people are believed to remain trapped under collapsed buildings, officials said.
The survival rate was projected to fall in the afternoon of Jan. 4, 72 hours after the earthquake hit at 4:10 p.m. Jan. 1.
Wajima Mayor Shigeru Sakaguchi said authorities had received 225 rescue requests as of 11 a.m. on Jan. 3. In Suzu, 72 rescue requests had yet to be met.
The Japan Coast Guard said Jan. 4 that rescuers are searching for an individual from Suzu swept away by tsunami, the first person known to be missing in the tsunami from the Jan. 1 earthquake.
Around 33,500 people were staying in evacuation centers, prefectural officials said.
The extent of damage to homes and other buildings in the hardest-hit cities of Wajima and Suzu remained unknown. More than 210 homes were destroyed or damaged in other municipalities.
Aftershocks have continued.
The Japan Meteorological Agency recorded 521 earthquakes in the Noto Peninsula with an intensity of 1 or stronger on the Japanese scale of seven between the late afternoon of Jan. 1 and 4 p.m. on Jan. 3.
The figure exceeds the number of such earthquakes in the region between December 2020 and December 2023.
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