The rainy season has finally kicked in in full force. We have just two days of endless, partly torrential, rain. Today, we got a little respite from the rain. Atami City in Shizuoka saw a massive landslide that caused loss of life and immense damage: two people have been reported dead, 20 are still missing.
Unfortunately, Saturday's landslide has claimed another life. Initially, it was reported that twenty people were still missing; now, 80 people "are unaccounted for". Some of them might have evacuated before the heavy rain started. The disaster has been described as an accident waiting to happen, considering the steep mountainside and the poor soil quality due to huge ancient deposits of volcanic ash.
Intermittent rain and the risk of a secondary disaster posed challenges for rescue workers racing against time following a large mudslide in a hot spring resort town southwest of Tokyo that killed at least three people, destroyed at least 130 houses and left an uncertain number missing. The local governments have been struggling to confirm how many people went missing after Saturday's disaster in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture. [...] By noon Monday, the city had confirmed the safety of 67 people out of 147 people whose whereabouts had been unknown based on the basic resident register. The city is reaching out to community leaders to try to confirm the whereabouts of the remaining 80 people, officials said. Firefighters, police and Self-Defense Forces personnel continued to search mud-swamped houses in Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, and remove debris after rescuing 23 people by Sunday. One person was reported injured and over 550 people took shelter in local hotels, according to the city.
Intermittent rain and the risk of a secondary disaster posed challenges for rescue workers racing against time in the city of Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture.