Rescuers in a Japanese town hit by a deadly landslide had to suspend their search for survivors several times today as more rain fell on the devastated area.
Two women have been confirmed dead after mudslides smashed into part of the Atami hot spring resort in central Japan yesterday morning, after days of torrential rain.
A spokesman for the town’s disaster management told AFP that 19 people had been rescued and about 20 others were still missing.
«We are doing everything we can to rescue survivors while we carefully check the weather and other conditions,» he said.
About 130 homes and other buildings were destroyed as the landslide swept through the residential area, leaving behind a swamp that extended to the nearby coast, the spokesman said.
Vehicles were buried and buildings turned from their foundations, with an air conditioning unit seen hanging from a destroyed house into the mud below.
The spokesman said the landslide was 1 km long and 120 meters wide at some points.
Hundreds of rescue workers and military personnel were combing the mud and rubble with excavators and on foot, climbing up cracked roofs and sticking poles to the ground in search of bodies.
Television footage showed Coast Guard divers searching in foggy seas while police officers scoured the damaged homes with sniffer dogs.
But the rains hampered rescue operations, with workers forced to leave the site several times as smaller landslides occurred and disaster warning alerts issued.
Survivors at a nearby evacuation center told AFP of their panic when the landslide began.
«When I opened the door, everyone was rushing into the street and a policeman came to me and said: ‘What are you doing here, you have to hurry, everyone is leaving,'» a resident told AFP.
Atami, about 90 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, saw 313 millimeters of rain in just 48 hours until yesterday — higher than July’s monthly total average of 242.5 millimeters, according to NHK public broadcaster.
Much of Japan is currently going through the annual rainy season, which lasts for several weeks and often causes floods and landslides.
Scientists say climate change is intensifying this phenomenon because a warmer atmosphere contains more water, which leads to more intense precipitation.
More heavy rain is expected in the coming days across Japan’s main island.
«This rainy season front is expected to continue to bring heavy rains in many areas. There are fears of disasters on the ground even when the rains stop,» Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told ministers at an emergency meeting.
NHK says at least seven more landslides have been reported across Japan.
«Landslides can happen repeatedly in the same place even if the rain stops. Residents and rescuers must remain alert,» Takeo Moriwaki, professor of geotechnical engineering at Hiroshima Institute of Technology, told AFP.
A spokesman for the Atami disaster said 387 residents had been evacuated, and survivors were seen wearing face masks reading newspapers with pictures of the disaster on the front page.
Residents in many other cities in Shizuoka have also been ordered to evacuate.
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