The death toll from severe flooding in Myanmar this month has risen to 384, with 89 missing
▲ Storms flooded the same Japanese region that suffered a deadly earthquake in January. Pictured here is one of the camps for those affected by the earthquake, in the town of Wajima.Afp Photo
AFP, AP, Xinhua and Europa Press
The newspaper La Jornada
Sunday, September 22, 2024, p. 19
Tokyo. One person has died and at least seven are missing in northern Japan, where authorities yesterday ordered the evacuation of more than 60,000 residents in the centre of the country due to flooding caused by heavy rains.
In Ishikawa Prefecture, one of the affected areas, one person died and two were seriously injured, the local government said in a statement, warning that the whereabouts of three citizens were unknown.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the highest level of warning for this region, warning of a life-threatening situation.
Nearly 45,000 residents of Wajima, Suzu and Noto towns in Ishikawa have been evacuated, regional civil protection officials said, adding that 12 rivers had burst their banks. Residents were urged to take extra precautions against possible landslides and damage to buildings.
Four people working on a road construction project in Wajima, where several buildings have been flooded, 6,500 homes have been left without electricity and roads are blocked by landslides, were also declared missing.
About 16,000 residents in neighboring Niigata and Yamagata prefectures further northeast have been ordered to evacuate after storms threatened flooding and other damage.
Up to 20 centimetres of rain is forecast for the region in the next 24 hours, until midday on Sunday, due to rain bands causing torrential downpours over the Hokuriku region, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said.
They accumulate the fury of nature
All of these cities are in the areas that were hardest hit by the 7.5 magnitude earthquake on January 1, which killed at least 236 people in the center of the country. The region is still recovering from the catastrophe that flattened buildings, destroyed roads and caused a large fire.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the floods in Myanmar has risen to 384, with 89 people still missing as of yesterday morning, the State Administration Council Information Team said.
Flooding has affected dozens of municipalities in nine regions and states, covering nearly 16 percent of the country, according to the report.
On the other hand, the Italian government declared a state of emergency yesterday in the regions of Emilia-Romagna and Marche, both located in the north of the country and where streets, roads and squares are under water following the torrential rainfall of recent days.
The declaration is accompanied by the sending of some 20 million euros to cover the damage in the regions, especially on the dozens of roads that were affected, days after reports of the devastation in central and eastern Europe, which have left at least 20 dead.
More than 2,500 people have had to be evacuated from their homes by the authorities. Several cities, including Bologna and Modena, have been affected.
