126 Dead in Japan's Noto Peninsula Floods... 90-Year-Old Woman Rescued After 124 Hours

Survivors Found Even After 52 Hours of Golden Time

On New Year's Day, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, central Honshu, Japan, resulting in over 100 deaths. Amid this, a woman in her 90s was miraculously rescued 124 hours after the earthquake occurred.

Rescue workers and search dogs searching after a strong earthquake in Japan
[Photo by Reuters]

On the 7th, Kyodo News reported that Japanese police rescued a woman in her 90s around 8:20 p.m. the previous day from a collapsed house in Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture.

The woman was found on a bed inside the collapsed house and was immediately transported to a hospital. This was 52 hours beyond the so-called "golden time" of 72 hours after a disaster occurs. A woman in her 40s found alongside her was deceased.

The police explained, "The Metropolitan Police Department and Fukuoka Police jointly searched for missing persons and found two women in the collapsed house. One was breathing and her body was warm, but the other did not respond when called."

Japanese Firefighter Carrying Resident from Gangjin Disaster Area
Photo by AFP Yonhap News

There is another case of rescue beyond the golden time. Around 4:28 p.m. on the 4th, a woman in her 80s trapped inside a collapsed two-story house in Wajima City was found and rescued by firefighters conducting search operations.

According to Kyodo News, the death toll from this earthquake reached 126 as of 5 p.m. on the 6th. The number of deaths by area is 69 in Wajima City, 38 in Suzu City, 9 in Anamizu, and 5 in Nanao City. This is the first time in eight years since the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake that earthquake deaths have exceeded 100. The Kumamoto earthquake resulted in 276 deaths.

However, since Ishikawa Prefecture has reported about 200 residents as "uncontactable," there are concerns that the number of casualties may increase further.

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