Lack of timely rescue may cause 32 deaths from Noto quake

Thirty-two individuals have succumbed to the cold in the Noto Peninsula earthquake in Japan, due to hypothermia or freezing, according to the police.

Regarding cases labeled as hypothermia, some individuals were believed to have survived for a while even after the collapse of buildings. There is a possibility that they succumbed to death due to the lack of timely rescue, the daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.

As of 2:00 pm on Wednesday, there were 238 fatalities in the magnitude 7.6 earthquake, which devastated the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year's Day, according to the Ishikawa prefectural government.

Out of the overall count, 15 deaths are deemed indirectly related to the earthquake and tsunami, as these individuals sustained injuries or experienced a deterioration of pre-existing conditions as a result of evacuation from their homes.

The police handled the bodies of 222 people and compiled the causes of death determined by physicians.

More than 40 percent of the total were crushed to death and over 20 percent died of suffocation or respiratory failure, indicating that many individuals were trapped under collapsed buildings.

Additionally, 28 people suffered from traumatic shock. There were also three cases of burns resulting from a fire in Wajima, a city in Ishikawa Prefecture.

Other causes included six cases of crush syndrome and heart failure, and 12 cases labeled as unknown.

By age group, nearly 60 percent of the people who died were over 70s. Four were under the age of 10, and eight were between 10 and 19.

In Ishikawa Prefecture, the destruction of over 46,000 homes has been reported.

Amid more than 14,000 people seeking refuge in evacuation centers, the challenging conditions persist due to water shortages, road disruptions, and limitations on recovery and reconstruction efforts.

In addition, water outages continue to affect about 40,000 households in eight cities and towns. While a majority is expected to be temporarily restored by the end of March, some areas are projected to remain without water until April, The Asahi Shimbun reported.