RTL Today – Survival in adversity: Five days after the Japanese earthquake, an elderly woman was rescued from the rubble

A woman in her 90s was unexpectedly rescued after being trapped under rubble for five days following a massive earthquake in central Japan, but snow and storms made rescue efforts more difficult on Sunday.

According to local authorities, at least 128 people have died since the 7.5-magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks on New Year’s Day, and the death toll is certain to rise, with another 195 people missing.

The shock wave collapsed buildings on the Sea of ​​Japan side of the main island of Honshu, sparked fires and triggered a tsunami more than a meter high.

Three days after a devastating earthquake, hopes of finding survivors usually fade.

However, in Suzu City on the hard-hit Noto Peninsula, an elderly woman spent five days under the rubble of a collapsed house before being rescued on Saturday.

She was taken to hospital and is now able to talk, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Police footage of the scene shot in the rain and released by local media showed rescuers shouting to the woman: “Hold on!”

“You’re going to be fine!” they shouted. “Stay positive!”

A Tokyo police spokesman confirmed to AFP that the rescue was carried out by officers from Tokyo and Fukuoka, but he was unable to provide further details.

But not everyone is so lucky. In Anamizu, a 52-year-old man lost his 21-year-old son, and his parents-in-law are waiting for news about his wife, three other children and other family members.

“I hope they are still alive. I can’t be alone,” he told NHK.

– Sleet –

Rain, sleet and snow on Sunday made the rescue efforts of thousands of police, military and other rescue workers more challenging.

The cold weather could also worsen conditions for more than 28,800 people in 404 government shelters.

Local governments warned that continued rain increased the risk of a new round of landslides, and heavy snow on Monday could cause more buildings to collapse under the weight of the snow.

At least 2,000 people in many communities on the remote peninsula were cut off from the outside world due to damaged roads, while an estimated 1,000 landslides also blocked rescue vehicles.

This means that relief supplies cannot reach areas without water or power in a timely manner.

As of Sunday, about 20,700 households in the Ishikawa area were still without power and more than 66,100 were without water.

“The priority is to rescue people from under the rubble and reach isolated communities,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told NHK on Sunday.

He said the military had sent small units on foot to each isolated community.

Kishida added that the government had also “deployed multiple helicopters from the police and fire departments” to the rescue.

“Along with these efforts, we also need to improve the conditions in shelters and the health of the affected people,” who may have to stay in shelters for long periods of time, he warned.

In Anamizu, rescue workers wearing heavy orange or blue waterproof suits carried bodies of landslide victims covered with blue tarps beneath torn down power poles.

Amid widespread destruction in Wajima, one shrine’s traditional red gates still stood, but views through the gate revealed a devastating mess with splintered wood and collapsed beams.

But in the coastal village of Akazaki visited by AFP, no houses collapsed due to their unique design.

To protect against the harsh elements at the headland tip, the houses have few glass windows and their exterior walls are made of sturdy wooden slats stacked horizontally.

“I feel very encouraged that the village is still standing,” said Masaki Sato, who remotely maintains one of the houses.

Japan experiences hundreds of earthquakes each year, but most are harmless thanks to strict building codes that have been in place for more than four decades.

But many of the buildings are older, especially in rapidly aging rural communities like Noto.

Japan was plagued by a powerful earthquake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami, left about 18,500 people dead or missing, and led to a nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The last earthquake disaster in Japan to kill more than 100 people occurred in the southern city of Kumamoto in 2016, when 276 people died.