The toll of the earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale that hit Ishikawa, Japan, has worsened, where at least 48 deaths have been confirmed. This was announced by the broadcaster Nhk citing Ishikawa prefecture, the area that was the epicenter of the earthquake, which was accompanied by an earthquake swarm that has not yet ended. Another earthquake of magnitude 5.6 was recorded at 10.37 local time (2.17 in Italy) in the central-western Japanese prefecture Ishikawa, hit yesterday by a violent earthquake with a magnitude greater than 7. This was announced by the National Institute of Geophysics and volcanology (Ingv) Italian. Evacuations ordered from coastal areas in Japan, Russia and the two Koreas. Now, however, the tsunami warning has been lifted.
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LORENZO LAMPERTI
According to the emergency services, in addition to the 30 victims confirmed so far, at least 50 other people have suffered injuries of varying degrees. Ishikawa, the prefecture closest to the epicenter of the earthquakes, was the hardest hit: in the area, more than 200 houses were engulfed in fire, over 100 residential buildings collapsed and people are still under the rubble of at least 17 collapsed houses . Rescuers and firefighters are working on site, while units of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces have been sent to the area to assist in the rescue effort.
Earthquake in Japan, cracked roads and raised asphalt: it seems like the apocalypse
Prime Minister Kishida speaks of a “race against time” to save human lives. There was much damage, with at least 200 buildings destroyed by the fires that broke out in the city of Wajima. Around 45,700 families without electricity. Over 155 tremors were recorded in two days.
Japan's Imperial Household Agency has canceled the traditional public New Year's greeting scheduled for Tuesday, which would have been attended by Emperor Naruhito and members of the royal family, following the tragic earthquake that hit Ishikawa Prefecture and surrounding areas. “On the indication of the sovereign himself and Empress Masako, the agency decided not to proceed with the event in Tokyo in consideration of the damage caused by the earthquake to numerous people”, reports a note. During the traditional event at the beginning of the year, members of the imperial family usually greet the subjects who gather in the park gardens in the center of the capital from the balcony of the residence.
What happened
It was a scary New Year's Eve in Japan where the earth began to tremble again for over a minute, shaken by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake, which was followed by other powerful tremors, which triggered another alert, that of a powerful tsunami which it could have caused waves of over 5 metres, bringing back memories of the nightmare of March 13 years ago and that of the devastating tsunami that overwhelmed the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004.
It was 4.10pm local time when the earth began to violently shake the central-western coast of the country, which has always been used to living with hundreds of earthquakes a year. But this time it was different and it is no coincidence that panic immediately spread among the population, while the authorities issued a tsunami warning, immediately triggering evacuation plans. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida immediately urged people in the danger zones, more than 50,000 people, to “move as soon as possible” to higher ground, while broadcaster NHK appealed to people to flee the coastal areas. Calls to evacuate also spread in the same minutes in the Russian region of Vladivostok, as well as in South and North Korea. Within a few hours the waves arrived, but fortunately in a more contained way, on the coasts of Japan, 1.2 meters high, hitting the port of Wajima, on the Noto peninsula. Peninsula that was effectively isolated by the earthquake. The main communication routes were destroyed, starting with five different highways, which were devastated for hundreds of meters in different sections. Trains, especially high-speed ones, were also suspended, as were a large number of flights, while mobile phone coverage worked in fits and starts.
The affected areas were Toyama, Ishikawa and Niigata prefectures on the Sea of Japan side of the country's main island, Honshu. Fear then spread even further when it was learned that the earthquake caused a fire in a transformer at the Shika nuclear power plant in Ishikawa prefecture. However, the flames were quickly extinguished and did not cause any anomalies in the operation of the plant.
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