[ad_1]
Torrential rains in the south and west of Japan have killed at least 30 people, according to the authorities who ordered Saturday the evacuation of 1.9 million people, the public channel NHK evoking it A death toll of 49.
The Tokyo area was also struck Saturday night by a magnitude 5.9 earthquake, according to the USGS geophysical institute, which did not trigger a tsunami risk. No damage has been reported immediately.
The record rainfall recorded over several days in several regions, including Hiroshima, Kyoto and Okayama, has resulted in exceptional floods, landslides and floods. flooding, trapping many inhabitants despite eviction orders not always respected.
"We expect the number of victims to increase because we have only collected some of the information," he said. AFP an official of the disaster management section of the Ehime prefecture, also concerned
The NHK public channel, whose usual programs are partially replaced by special editions, evoked a death toll of 49 dead and 48 missing early in the night in Japan (Saturday afternoon in GMT).
Other channels gave fairly close figures.
Hiroshima prefecture would have the heaviest record with NHK, but Aichi, Gifu, Kyoto and Okayama provinces also appear to be hit hard
Some 48,000 firefighters, police and military members of the Self-Defense Forces have been deployed on the ground, but they are facing major difficulties given the inaccessibility of certain places in the countryside. The coming of the night will not make their job easier.
Relief services were trying to rescue refugee residents on the roofs of their homes largely under water. Helicopters, boats and other vehicles mobilized
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the situation "extremely serious" and ordered the deployment of all possible means to save lives. The government set up a crisis unit.
– "Swept away by the waters" –
The meteorological agency has placed several regions on high alert and warned of high risks of major damage. "Maximum vigilance is needed," say the meteorologists.
Houses collapsed in places due to landslides, roads and bridges were ransacked or even washed away by violent and thick muddy waves and entire neighborhoods totally drowned, according to TV pictures.
"I was in my car and suddenly the water came in front and behind engulfing the road, I managed to escape, but I was scared" , testified for the newspaper Mainichi Yuzo Hori, who was in the region of Hiroshima (southwest).
"My house was washed away and completely destroyed," Toshihide Takigawa said. In Hiroshima,
Precipitation exceeded one meter in 72 hours in several areas, with the weather agency estimating that such levels are only rarely achieved in several decades. She described the rains as "terrible" and estimated that they would last until Sunday.
Japan is often traversed by large rainy fronts in addition to the sometimes deadly typhoons that sweep it regularly in the summer.
Nothing so dramatic with the earthquake that occurred at 8:24 pm (1124 GMT) and was preceded by an alarm warning the inhabitants.
"It was a type of rather long side jerks, some objects have fallen, but that's okay, "said a woman residing in the Chiba area, in one of the most shaken areas.
Some of the region's trains were stopped for track checks, according to the NHK.
Japan, located at the junction of the four tectonic plates, suffers each year more than 20% of the strongest earthquakes recorded on Earth.
© 2018 AFP. All rights of reproduction and representation reserved. All information reproduced in this section (news, photos, logos) is protected by intellectual property rights held by AFP. Therefore, none of this information may be reproduced, modified, reposted, translated, exploited commercially or reused in any way without the prior written consent of AFP.
[ad_2]Source link
