According to the latest information from the authorities, 233 people died in the severe earthquake in central Japan at the beginning of January. This means that Ishikawa Prefecture on Japan’s main island of Honshu significantly increased the last announced number of 168 deaths. Another 22 people are still missing, she said.
The serious quake that hit the prefecture and neighboring areas northwest of Japan’s capital Tokyo on New Year’s Day had a magnitude of 7.6. The city of Wajima in particular was hit hard.
Mountains of rubble, damaged roads, landslides and aftershocks as well as wintry weather with snowfall initially made search and rescue work difficult. As a sign of at least a partial return to everyday life, all primary and middle schools in the prefecture reopened on Monday, as the Japanese news agency Kyodo wrote.
