An enormous mudslide as a result of torrential rains has torn several houses in Japan with it. The fate of around 20 people was initially uncertain, as local media reported on Saturday from the coastal town of Atami, famous for its hot onsen baths, in the Shizuoka Prefecture southwest of Tokyo.
Rescue workers looked for the missing. The authorities issued the highest warning level and called on around 25,000 households to get to safety. The military was asked for assistance. The government set up a crisis team.
Almost like a tsunami
Japanese television showed how a massive wave of black mud suddenly breaks from a slope through several houses and sweeps everything with it.
“The earth slid to the front of the shop. It sounded like an excavator smashing a house, ”the employee of a glass studio in Atami told reporters. Cars parked in front of it were washed away.
Speed of around 40 km / h
The mudslide had an estimated speed of around 40 kilometers per hour, said Professor Motoyuki Ushiyama from the Center for Research and Education on Natural Hazards at Shizuoka University of the Kyodo Agency.
Two victims of the accident were found with “cardiac and respiratory arrest”, it said. This is a common phrase in Japan before human deaths are officially confirmed. The rescue and recovery work was made more difficult by the adverse weather conditions.
Rescue workers looked for the missing with the support of soldiers who had been summoned. Due to the adverse weather conditions, however, no helicopters can currently be used in the search and rescue operation, said Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. He had previously convened a crisis team in the capital. At least ten houses were destroyed. According to Atami Mayor Sakae Saito, up to 300 buildings were damaged.
Authorities issue the highest warning level
The authorities issued the highest warning level and called on around 25,000 households to get to safety. The meteorological authority in Tokyo also warned of heavy rains in large areas of the country for the next few days. The power supply was interrupted in thousands of households. Japanese television broadcast footage of citizens capturing the moment on Twitter when, around 10:30 a.m. local time, the black wave of mud broke from a hill through houses and carried everything away with it.
The accident site is near a volcano and has deposits of volcanic ash and ejecta, explained Professor Susumu Yasuda from Tokyo Denki University in the newspaper “Asahi Shimbun”. In the case of the slope in question, it was also likely that it could come off as it is now. Meanwhile, residents in other places along the country’s Pacific coast have also been warned to seek safety from swelling rivers, flooding and possible landslides.
Rail traffic interrupted
The heavy rainfall also led to interruptions in rail traffic. Shinkansen bullet train operations between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka were briefly suspended.
In the course of global warming, Japan is recording more and more heavy rainfall, which also leads to more and more landslides. In the past ten years, according to official information, an average of almost 1500 landslides have occurred in the mountainous island kingdom – that is almost twice as many as in the previous ten years. (SDA)