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Rescuers use heavy equipment to dig through the debris of a landslide that has buried homes and people in the small town of Atsuma, in Hokkaido Prefecture, north of the island.
The landslide was triggered by a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that rocked the island Thursday, killing at least 20 people, ruined homes and power cuts in millions of homes.
This is the latest in a series of disasters that have hit the country after several deaths caused by a severe typhoon, floods and heat waves this summer. Experts say this could be the "new standard".
Some 40,000 rescuers, including 22,000 members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, worked on Thursday night in Atsuma to search for people buried in the rubble.
The families of the disappeared stood anxiously as the teams sank deep into the displaced land.
Tenma Takimoto, a 17-year-old resident, was waiting for her sister to be found – she was finally found by rescuers who had to dig with their bare hands. Takimoto, who was also injured in one leg, told him, "You did well. You have been patient enough.
Kenichi Endo, 70, had gone to the small town to find his relative, reported the Japanese news agency Jiji. "I would never have thought that there would be a landslide following an earthquake," he said.
The report said the first floor of the two-man house that he shared with his wife was submerged in mud. Endo said that he loved his 80-year-old relative, "like a brother."
The energy that was cut to millions of homes began to return on Friday, and the nearby Shin Chitose Airport, closed due to the earthquake, resumed partial operations.
All domestic flights, as well as several international flights, should be back on Saturday.
"Consecutive events"
The chaotic summer in Japan has seen the country endure weeks of deadly floods, typhoons, earthquakes, landslides and heat waves, which disaster management experts see as a sign of the situation.
Thursday's earthquake came just days after the strongest typhoon on the Japanese continent in 25 years broke an oil tanker on a bridge, forcing one of the country's largest airports to close and hundreds of canceled flights. The storm caused at least 10 deaths.
This is one of the successions of deadly natural disasters that have hit Japan since July. "Consecutive events seem to have fought each other to follow," said Senior Scientific Advisor Doug Bausch of the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) in Hawaii.
Two months ago, landslides and floods caused by torrential rains in Japan – from Saga in the extreme southwest to Gifu in the center of the main island of Honshu – killed 200 people in which has become one of the most deadly disasters in the country. earthquake and tsunami of 2011.
The heavy rains that caused flash floods were based on a long-term trend, said Munehiko Yamaguchi of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
On the basis of 30-year surface observations, the number of torrential rains in Japan is increasing, he added. Seismologist Robert Geller, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo, said he was at risk of getting worse.
"We should stop saying" extreme "and face the fact that it is probably the new norm," he said.
He added that although climate change is unlikely to have an impact on the earthquakes themselves, heavy rains can make landslides worse – as we saw in Hokkaido – and worsen conditions.
Bausch, an impact modeller who tries to predict the effect of natural disasters, said what he has seen in recent years has "impacts that hurt everything that has been seen before."
& # 39; Caught by surprise & # 39;
The flood was one of the most alarming events of the summer in Japan.
"Japan is a well-prepared country, to be caught off guard and to have a number of deaths probably took them by surprise," said Bausch.
The floods occurred as whole swaths of the country went through the hot temperatures of summer.
In Kumagaya, a city near Tokyo, mercury reached 41.1 degrees (105.98 F), the highest record ever recorded in Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, nearly 12 degrees higher than the average of this period.
According to CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam, nearly 110 million of the 128 million Japanese have been affected by the heat wave.
This is a larger phenomenon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States. This month of June was the fifth hottest June ever recorded, NOAA reported, and the 10 hottest Junes have been since 2005, with the hottest in 2016.
Globally, the average temperature at the surface of land and oceans for the first three months of the year was the sixth longest since the start of global surveys in 1880.
Fingers indicate climate change
Disaster prevention experts believe that it is difficult to identify a specific cause for an event, but the trend towards more frequent weather events indicates that climate change is the main cause.
"If we go back far enough, we can see things happening on these lines, but overall, we are certainly seeing more extreme events because the oceans are warming up; there is more moisture in the atmosphere, "said Bausch.
He added that, in addition to the increasing number of fatal events associated with warmer summers, winters are also becoming more extreme.
Japan has been somewhat protected by the worst weather, because of its richness and preparation.
"I think such events would be catastrophic in countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh," Bausch said. "There have been, in recent history, tens of thousands of deaths in events like these."
So what is it that can be done?
Yamaguchi said his agency was seeking to change the focus of warning systems – from the simple announcement of weather conditions to the definition of risks – for example, warn of floods and landslides, rather than just warning of strong rains.
"How to transmit meteorological information to the public is a challenge, but we have made great progress," he said.
Disaster management agencies in Japan and abroad learn whenever there is a natural disaster.
"In 2011, the tsunami was bigger than expected, there were more deaths and the evacuation areas and safe areas were not big enough.
"(They) really under-designed for that. Everyone has heard that all over the world these lessons are learned inside and outside of Japan, "Bausch said.
