Death toll from powerful earthquake in Japan’s Noto rises to 232 – Reports
Tokyo: The death toll from a powerful earthquake and a series of aftershocks that hit the Noto Peninsula in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year’s Day has risen to 232, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported on Wednesday.
Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday, citing local authorities, that the death toll stood at 220 people, while 1,014 more people have been injured, and another 20 still listed as missing.
More than 15,000 homes have been partially or completely destroyed by the earthquake. More than 7,800 households still have no access to electricity, while over 55,500 households have no access to water, the report said.
The prefecture has opened 389 evacuation points, with the number of evacuees totaling over 16,700 people. More than 415 people have been cut off from communications due to the collapse of bridges and destruction of roads, the report said, adding that 7,000 employees of Japan’s self-defense forces were still working on sites.
On January 1, a powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake, followed by a series of aftershocks, struck near the city of Suzu on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. The earthquake became the most powerful for the Noto Peninsula region since records began in 1885.