TOKYO (AFP) – The death toll from the powerful earthquake that flattened parts of central Japan on January 1 passed 200 yesterday with just over 100 people still unaccounted for, authorities said.
The 7.5-magnitude quake destroyed and toppled buildings, caused fires and knocked out infrastructure on the Noto Peninsula on Japan’s main island Honshu just as families were celebrating New Year’s Day.
Eight days later thousands of rescuers were battling blocked roads and poor weather to clear the wreckage as well as reach almost 3,500 people still stuck in isolated communities.
More than 1,200 aftershocks have rattled the area, and on Tuesday a strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off the coast in the Sea of Japan, Japanese authorities said. The United States Geological Survey put the magnitude at 5.8.
Ishikawa regional authorities released figures showing that 202 people were confirmed dead in the New Year’s Day disaster, up from 180 earlier in the day, with 102 unaccounted for, down from 120.
On Monday, authorities had more than tripled the number of missing to 323 after central databases were updated, with most of the rise related to badly hit Wajima.
