Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida declared that the nation is in a race against time to rescue those impacted by a series of significant earthquakes, which reportedly resulted in a minimum of 48 fatalities, numerous injuries, and ignited fires that obliterated residences. Early on Tuesday, police and local authorities reported recovering bodies from the debris of collapsed structures, while others remained trapped.
Kishida emphasized the urgency of swift rescue efforts during an emergency disaster meeting, stating, "We must rescue them as quickly as possible, especially those who are trapped under collapsed structures." A deployment of one thousand army personnel has been sent to the most severely affected area in the relatively remote Noto peninsula.
However, rescue operations faced obstacles due to badly damaged and blocked roads, leading to the closure of one of the area's airports because of runway cracks.
In Wajima city, fires persisted until 7 am local time on Tuesday, with the fire department reporting the destruction of over 100 homes and other structures. Wajima city accounted for at least 15 of the reported casualties, according to the Kyodo news agency. The Asachi-dori street area, a district renowned for its many wooden buildings and popular among visitors, was the worst affected. The cause and the exact number of casualties remained unclear.
The earthquakes, the most powerful registering a magnitude of 7.6 at a shallow depth of 10km, struck the west coast of Japan's main island on Monday, shaking buildings as far away as Tokyo, approximately 300km distant.
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