The death toll from a powerful quake that triggered landslides in northern Japan yesterday rose to 30 as tens of thousands of rescue workers raked through the mud for survivors.
The majority of the dead were from the small rural town of Atsuma, where a cluster of dwellings were wrecked when a hillside collapsed from the force of the 6.7 magnitude quake, causing deep brown scars in the landscape.
About nine people were unaccounted for in the town and about 400 sustained minor injuries, according to the local government of the northern Hokkaido island.
Photo: EPA
“We never had landslides here,” said Akira Matsushita, who lost his brother in Atsuma.
“I couldn’t believe until I saw it with my own eyes,” he told TV Asahi. “When I saw it, I knew no one could survive.”
About 40,000 rescue workers, including Japan Self-Defense Force personnel specially drafted in, were searching for survivors with the aid of bulldozers, sniffer dogs and 75 helicopters, Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said.
Photo: AP
“They’re doing their best around the clock,” Suga told reporters.
All 3 million households on Hokkaido island lost power when Thursday’s quake damaged a thermal plant supplying electricity to the region, but Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said power was mostly restored.
“Thanks to hard work to boost power supply throughout the night, the number of households without power has declined to 20,000,” Abe told a Cabinet meeting to discuss the quake.
Abe said the government would release emergency funds to deliver food, water and fuel needed for power generators at hospitals.
A total of 31,000 households were without water and about 16,000 people were evacuated to shelters. The earthquake also collapsed a handful of houses and walls in the main regional city of Sapporo, but considering the strength of the quake, the death toll was relatively light, with the majority of those killed coming from the landslide in Atsuma.
International flights at the main airport in Sapporo resumed operations yesterday, while bullet trains began services the day before.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese