Heavy snow claims 61 lives in Japan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2006-01-08 11:32

Japan's Defense Agency has dispatched disaster relief units to help residents deal with the massive snowfall which has claimed dozens of lives since last month.

Japanese soldiers help residents clearing snow in the Iiyama city. Japan's Defense Agency has dispatched disaster relief units to help residents deal with the massive snowfall which has claimed dozens of lives since last month. [AFP]

At least 61 people have died, some falling while shovelling the snow off house roofs and others in traffic accidents, the nation's largest daily Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News news agency reported Saturday.

One of the disaster relief units sent from Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force helped residents of Iiyama, Nagano prefecture, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of capital, remove snow following a request from the local government, the agency said.

A woman digs to create a pathway through heavy snow which has piled up to over three metres in the northern Japanese town of Tsunan January 6, 2006. [Reuters]

Snow-bound central Niigata prefecture, facing the Sea of Japan, also requested a disaster relief unit, which had already been dispatched, the agency said.

The Japanese meteorological agency warned that snow would continue to blanket northern and western Japan over the weekend.

Fourteen locations in Japan have been hit by record snowfall with some of them covered by more than 300 centimeters (10 feet), the agency said.

In Tsunanmachi, Niigata prefecture, a record 393 centimeters of snow has fallen while Nozawaonsenmura in Nagano prefecture has been blanketed with 329 centimeters of snow as of Saturday afternoon, according to the agency.

Japan, which renounces war and possession of military, calls its troops Self-Defense Forces.