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Plummeting temperatures plague Ishikawa quake relief effort

lummeting temperatures, rain and continued aftershocks continued to plague relief efforts in earthquake-hit Ishikawa Prefecture on Wednesday as the death toll rose to 206, nine days after a massive temblor rocked the Noto Peninsula area.
The hard-hit cities of Suzu and Wajima accounted for 91 and 83 of the dead, respectively. The number of people unaccounted for in the disaster, meanwhile, fell to 52 from 102 a day earlier.

Relief efforts were continuing but quake-damaged roads made attempts to reach isolated communities difficult, though Self-Defense Forces troops cleared at least one road of rubble from a landslide, after the mercury dipped to around 3 degrees Celsius in Suzu and Wajima on Wednesday morning.

More than 3,100 people in 22 districts within towns and cities remained cut off from the relief effort as of Wednesday, following damage wrought by the quake and an estimated 1,000 landslides affecting roads on the Noto Peninsula.

With the landslides and forecasts of intermittent rain for the area, the Meteorological Agency on Tuesday issued a flood and landslide warning for much of the Noto area through Wednesday evening, fearing that blocked rivers could overflow.

In the coastal city of Wajima, SDF troops joined police and firefighters on Wednesday for the second day of a large-scale search through the burned-down remains of a market devastated by fire following the 7.6 magnitude New Year’s Day earthquake.

Authorities remain uncertain of the number of people missing at the Wajima Morning Market, where around 200 buildings were destroyed by a massive blaze that tore through the popular tourist site.

It was unclear if anyone perished in the fire, and if so, how many people.

“My house was destroyed in the fire, but my family is safe,” a female resident in her 60s told NHK. “But I think there are people who lost their lives in the fire, so I hope they can at least find the bodies.”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to visit the disaster area later this week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi hinted at a news conference Wednesday.

“It is important that we continue to provide effective support and directly understand the current situation and issues in the affected areas as we move forward with full-scale restoration and reconstruction,” Hayashi said, adding that the prime minister was hoping to visit “at the earliest possible time.”

At a separate news conference, however, Ishikawa Gov. Hiroshi Hase said that he had been informed by the government that he would accompany Kishida and other officials on a visit to the disaster-affected areas Saturday. Hase said the specific areas were still being worked out, but Kishida was likely to visit evacuation centers and meet with SDF and local officials.

Small groupings of SDF troops, part of the 6,300-strong contingent that has been dispatched to the prefecture for relief operations, have made their way to some cutoff areas to deliver aid and evacuate residents.

The Defense Ministry has also begun operating the SDF’s UH-60JA helicopters for relief missions for the first time. The helicopters had been effectively grounded since a crash involving one of them off the coast of Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture, in April last year killed 10 Ground Self-Defense Force members.

Following the quake on Jan. 1, more than 1,200 aftershocks — including a handful that registered as powerful as strong 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 — have hit the region, and more are expected. The Meteorological Agency has warned of the possibility of quakes with a maximum seismic intensity of a strong 5 or higher striking the area over the next month.

Nearly 26,000 people remain in about 400 shelters across Ishikawa, prefectural authorities said Wednesday.

Ishikawa Prefecture on Tuesday and Wednesday announced its first “disaster-related deaths” — eight people in total, six of whom were from Suzu and two from the town of Noto — who died either of injuries or illness after having evacuated.

At a government disaster response meeting Tuesday, Kishida’s Cabinet approved the allocation of ¥4.74 billion ($32.7 million) from reserve funds in the fiscal 2023 budget to aid victims of the quake, including measures to stave off the cold, such as stoves, blankets, clothing and fuel.

Kishida also urged aid for affected residents who have remained in their homes.

As of Wednesday, more than 58,000 households remained without water and nearly 15,000 did not have electricity, authorities said.

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