News in Pictures / Turbulent start to 2024
16:08 JST, January 9, 2024
A powerful earthquake registering the maximum 7 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture at about 4:10 p.m. on Jan. 1, plunging into chaos a peaceful New Year’s Day meant to be spent with family.
A week has now passed, and Self-Defense Forces personnel, police and firefighters continue their search for survivors amid ongoing aftershocks. They are also working with affected residents to deliver relief supplies to evacuation centers and isolated communities.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, the death toll in Ishikawa Prefecture had reached 168. Of this number, 140 deaths occurred in Wajima and Suzu, according to the prefectural government.
Many major roads remain blocked in various places, with dozens of communities isolated. The search goes on for people whose safety is unaccounted for, and nearly 28,000 people have taken refuge in evacuation centers.
On Jan. 2, a Japan Coast Guard aircraft that was scheduled to deliver relief supplies to the disaster area collided with a Japan Airlines passenger plane on a runway at Haneda Airport in Tokyo and burst into flames. All 379 people on board the Japan Airlines plane escaped, but five of the coast guard plane’s six crew members were killed.
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