Japan earthquake: Rescue efforts reach critical point as weather conditions deteriorate | DW News

Japan earthquake: Rescue efforts reach critical point as weather conditions deteriorate | DW News

In Japan prime minister fumio kishida says the country has reached a critical point as Rescuers race to find survivors of the powerful earthquake that struck on New Year’s Day the death toll now has risen to 62 dozens of people are believed to still be trapped under collapsed buildings Heavy Rain is

Forecast in the Ishikawa prefecture where the Quake hit that has prompted fears of landslides which could hamper the rescue efforts and cause further damage thew correspondent James chater is following the story for us on Japan’s West Coast and he gave us this update well just to give you a sense of

Where we are right now we’re in uchinada which is about um a couple of hours or so Drive south of the worst affected areas which is right up on the Northern parts of the Noto Peninsula I have to say though even here the the situation does feel a little bit tense just before

We came on air actually there are about 30 or so fire truck kind of emergency vehicles which pass closer to the coast where we are right now so there is still an air of tension um around this kind of this part of of Japan um as we as we

Know obviously the the emergency uh work is ongoing um officials are still trying to find people that are trapped um beneath um uh rubble and homes um that have been destroyed um but yeah it has to be said there is concern about especially where um where the emergency

Uh response from here because the weather really is deteriorating as well you can probably see it’s starting to rain here as well there’s concern heavy rain this evening um into the evening is going to make uh the the emergency response even more difficult um so there is still concern that the death toll

Could could rise further here now briefly if you can there have been reports of misinformation hampering relief efforts what can you tell us yeah this has been a something that’s kind of a concerning development in the aftermath of this earthquake is something that prime minister fumi should have mentioned in this press

Conference to the country which is that there has been this Spike of misinformation around this earthquake and the the the main kind of narrative that’s emerged in the aftermath of this Quake was that the earthquake was in some way man-made this is something that’s been spreading quite um quite

Prolif in well proliferating on social media some of these posts reaching millions of people um and officials have have essentially come out um we understand perhaps one of the first times they’ve made such a public um comment on this type of misinformation in the aftermath of an earthquake and

Saying that this type of misinformation could actually impede the response effort that’s uh that are ongoing so some of the images we’ve seen coming out from um false images from the 2011 earthquake which killed over 20,000 people in Japan um so officials warning that there could be a lot of concern and

A lot of complication um soed in this in this moment where people are really trying to get accurate information as fast as possible James Cher there in usin in Japan thank you very much James let’s bring in kit mamot he’s a specialist on Disaster Response and reconstruction and it’s currently at

Yamak in Yamagata in Northern Japan kit we’ve reached the third critical day and are nearing the 72h hour mark what would the focus of the rescue teams be at this point well right now there’s definitely chance to to able to find survivors underneath of those buildings you know

Still three days so I mean many case you’re going to find people even after week two weeks three weeks so they’re not going to give up till the everybody’s I you know identified uh from this earthquake essentially now there there’s also been uh um rain has been and heavy rain has been been

Forecast for the region there how will that hamper rescue efforts no that’s actually not good at all I mean for the two reasons one is that those collapsed buildings you know either Wood Construction or Concrete Construction having that the moisture of rain coming into it that become actually

Unstabilized more so that’s actually the one huge issue second is that as you so the manyal landslides happened after the uh earthquake and which actually destroyed the manal uh roads and that’s actually Humper the all the uh the trucks to have the food in the water to

Be able to get into the affected area so that’s actually big deal so yeah this upcoming the uh uh forecast raining storm that we we can have some certain issues there now what do you reckon is Japan out of the danger zone with regard to this Quake or can we expect even

Bigger Quakes in the following days sure I mean there’s always a a possibility you know the 209 laa Italy earthquake the you know first earthquake a smaller one and second one actually killed 300 people 2011 the Christ Church earthquake in New Zealand the second earthquake in the

March was actually smaller but was ENT is closer to the population Center which killed that actually more people well the most people actually than uh first one so it’s definitely the uh uh there’s 100% probability of aftershocks we just don’t know exactly how big and when is

But it’s going to keep coming for probably next six month to year you know it’s pretty active out there now Japan is a quake-prone nation can we say that the country has developed expertise to avoid High death toll and destruction I mean 62 is tragic but it’s

Still uh for such a large Quake is not that much is it well that is true I mean uh uh it’s definitely amounted 7.5 is a large earthquake you know in a turkey earthquake in beginning of last year which killed almost uh uh 50,000 people and but also building types are

Different in Japan is uh most of housings made of wood so tend to actually be able to take the uh earthquake loading one that’s collapse You’ seen here is the older housing construction that’s the issue and also all the Concrete Construction anything built prior to uh mid 1980s uh those

Actually really dangerous buildings there in Japan also the uh in know place like California or turkey pretty much throughout the world actually so yeah that’s that’s definitely issue but if it’s any country is prepared for this kind of event would would be Japan actually you know after all Japan you

Know we go through every five years every five years so this major major earthquake happens and we get into the uh reconstruction mode you know K mamut there in Northern Japan thank you very much for sharing your expertise with us thanks so much

Japanese rescuers searched for survivors of the New Year’s Day earthquake on Wednesday ahead of predicted freezing temperatures and heavy rains that threatened to bring about landslides. The devastating quake rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the west coast of the main island of Honshu, killing at least 62 individuals and destroying hundreds of buildings and sparking fires. The destruction isolated the remote area, and rescuers have since struggled to find survivors.

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