Five Days After the Noto Peninsula Earthquake in Japan... Death Toll Rises to 94

On the 5th, marking the fifth day since a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Honshu, Japan on the 1st, the death toll from the earthquake rose to 94.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to local media including NHK on the 5th, the number of deaths caused by the earthquake reached 94 as of 2 p.m. that day, an increase of 13 from 24 hours earlier. The number of deaths by area includes 55 in Wajima City, 23 in Suzu City, 6 in Anamizu Village, and 5 in Nanao City. The number of injured is 464. Through evacuation transfers using firefighting helicopters, the number of isolated village residents has been reduced to about 160. The number of residents unaccounted for, as tallied by Ishikawa Prefecture, reached 222, and the overall damage status has not yet been fully assessed.

The difficulty in assessing the damage is due to ongoing delays in restoring land routes and communication services.

In Ishikawa Prefecture, about 25,000 households still lack electricity, and approximately 76,000 households across Ishikawa, Toyama, and Niigata Prefectures are experiencing water outages. In Ishikawa Prefecture, about 33,000 residents are still living in evacuation shelters on the fifth day. In the Noto region, aftershocks continue to occur dozens of times daily. At 7:10 p.m. that day, a magnitude 4.1 earthquake was recorded. According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, there were 819 earthquakes of seismic intensity 1 or higher observed from 4 p.m. on the 1st to 1 p.m. on the 5th.

Rescue efforts by the Self-Defense Forces, police, and fire departments have continued. However, as the "golden time" of 72 hours for earthquake rescue has already passed, the situation for rescue is difficult. A police officer who participated in the rescue operation to save an elderly woman in her 80s from a collapsed house the previous day told Kyodo News, "Due to aftershocks, rescue activities were interrupted several times, and although we moved her outside the house after 8 hours, she was in cardiopulmonary arrest," adding, "We could not meet the hopes of the family watching."

Hayashi Yoshimasa, Chief Cabinet Secretary and spokesperson for the Japanese government, said at a press conference that day, "We will continue to devote all efforts to rescue operations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.