Japan earthquake: Race to find survivors as critical 72-hour window closes

Elderly woman is carried on the back of a rescue worker in Suzu, Japan

Kelly Ng, Jean Mackenzie, andamp

Singapore and Wajima

As a crucial three-day window has now closed, rescuers in Japan are scurrying through the night in search of disaster victims.

When a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck the isolated Noto peninsula on Monday at 16 :10 local time ( 07: 10GMT ), at least 77 people were killed.

Many individuals, mostly in the towns of Suzu and Wajima, believed they were trapped beneath their demolished properties.

The likelihood of discovering people dead significantly decreases after 72 days.

According to mudslides and blocked roads, thousands of residents still lack access to electricity and water, and hundreds are also cut off from assistance.

Fumio Kishida, the prime minister of Japan, announced earlier on Thursday that 150 persons had been saved so far and that they may keep working tirelessly to save as many as they could.

” This is a very challenging circumstance. But from the perspective of saving lives, I implore you to exert every effort to save and dispatch as many lives as you can by this evening, when the disaster’s crucial 72 hours may have passed, he said.

At least 330 people were hurt by the Monday tremor, which was followed by several waves, according to the AFP media company.

In the earthquake-affected areas, more than 30,000 people are still residing in shelters, and some towns are without access to water, power, or the internet.

In the meantime, virtual discussions of extraordinary rescues have gone viral. Many rescuers can be seen slicing through layers of collapsed furniture in a video posted by Peace Winds Japan, an NGO in the area that assisted with the rescue, to free the woman who was trapped beneath her house. They therefore encircled her with a substantial blanket.

Composite image showing the extensive damage done to a street in Wajima, where commercial and residential properties were destroyed by fire

On a Wednesday trip to Wajima, where homes and vehicles were destroyed by crumbling cement, the BBC witnessed considerable destruction.

Most people heeded the first warnings to leave when floods were predicted, so the town, which has about 23, 000 residents, then resembles a ghost town.

With more than three hundred confirmed fatalities, it has also recorded the highest death toll to date, but that number is expected to increase. Support is still unable to reach people in some areas of the town due to broken bridges and floods.

Simply 2, 000 out of the 10,000 evacuees from the city have received food and other support supplies, according to Shigeru Sakaguchi, the governor of Wajima.

Nearly none of the homes in Suzu, a community of about 13,000 people, are still standing, according to the president. According to Masuhiro Izumiya, 90 % of people have collapsed absolutely or nearly entirely.

One moment after the big earthquake, a tiny tsunami hit the town.

Since the end of 2020, action has been rising near Noto, making Japan one of the nations with the highest seismic activity rates in the world. Over the past three years, there have been more than 500 small and medium tremors in this area.

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