The death toll from a New Year’s Day earthquake in Japan climbed to 202 on Tuesday, as 100 people are still unaccounted for amid ongoing relief operations, authorities said.
The 7.5 magnitude quake hit the Noto Peninsula on Japan’s main island Honshu, destroyed more than 1,390 homes, and caused fire and severe damage to infrastructure.
Ishikawa regional authorities released new statistics indicating that the number of confirmed deaths had risen to 202, as the number of individuals who are still unaccounted for has decreased to 102, down from 120.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, during the daily government meeting on Tuesday, instructed ministers to “make efforts of resolving the state of isolation and continue tenacious rescue activities.”
He also called for secondary evacuations to areas outside the earthquake-affected region, according to the top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.
Eight days after the disaster, thousands of rescuers are facing the challenge of blocked roads and adverse weather conditions to assist nearly 3,500 who remain stranded in the severely affected areas.
The ongoing relief efforts have been hindered by heavy rain and snowfall leading to an estimated 1,000 landslides while 60,000 households are without running water and 15,600 have no electricity supply.
As of Monday, approximately 30,000 individuals were residing in nearly 400 government shelters some deprived of water, electricity, and heating.
Residents in worst-hit regions are being advised to remain vigilant as they persistently encounter additional seismic activities. According to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, over 1,200 tremors have been documented since the start of the New Year.
Japan experiences hundreds of earthquakes every year and the vast majority causes no damage.
However, a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake off northeastern Japan in 2011 triggered a tsunami and left around 18,500 people dead or missing.
It also swamped the Fukushima atomic plant, causing one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.
