Thread: At least 6 dead, 22 missing in Hiroshima landslide

At least 6 dead, 22 missing in Hiroshima landslide

AP11:29 p.m. EDT August 19, 2014


(Photo: AP/Kyodo News)

TOKYO (AP) — At least six people were confirmed dead and 22 were missing after rain-sodden hills in the outskirts of Hiroshima gave way early Wednesday in several landslides.

Video footage from the national broadcaster NHK showed suburban homes in the western Japanese city surrounded by streams of mud and debris, and residents picking their way over piles of rocks and dirt.

Rescue workers suspended by ropes from police helicopters were pulling victims from the rubble as they searched homes stranded amid piles of lumber from crushed houses.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency, citing the local government, said six people were confirmed dead and another 22 were missing as of late morning. It said at least 20 people were injured, one seriously.

NHK, citing local police, put the death toll at 18.

"A few people were washed away and it is hard to know exactly how many are unaccounted for," said local government official Nakatoshi Okamoto, noting that the conditions in the disaster area were hindering efforts to account for all those affected.

Authorities issued warnings that further rains could trigger more landslides and flooding.

Landslides are a constant risk in mountainous, crowded Japan, where many homes are built on or near steep slopes. Torrential rains in the early morning apparently caused slopes to collapse in an area where many of the buildings were newly constructed.

Damage from land and mudslides has increased over the past few decades due to more frequent heavy rains, despite extensive work on stabilizing slopes. In the past decade there have been nearly 1,200 landslides a year, according to the land ministry, up from an average of about 770 a year in the previous decade.

In October last year, multiple mudslides on Izu-Oshima, an island south of Tokyo, killed 35 people, four of whose bodies were never recovered. Those slides followed a typhoon that dumped a record 32 inches of rain in a single day.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/w...lide/14322453/

36 dead, 7 missing in Hiroshima landslides

Published August 20, 2014 Associated Press

Aug. 20, 2014: In this aerial photo, a rescue helicopter hovers over an area devastated by a massive landslide in Hiroshima, western Japan.AP

TOKYO – Rain-sodden slopes collapsed in torrents of mud, rock and debris Wednesday in the outskirts of Hiroshima city, killing at least 36 people and leaving seven missing, Japanese police said.

Public broadcaster NHK showed rescue workers suspended by ropes from police helicopters pulling victims from the rubble. Others gingerly climbed into windows as they searched for survivors in crushed homes.

Hillsides were swept down into residential areas in at least five valleys in the suburbs of the western Japanese city after heavy rains left slopes unstable.

Hiroshima prefectural police said 36 people were confirmed dead and at least seven others were missing as of Wednesday night. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 15 people were injured, two seriously.

Local government official Nakatoshi Okamoto said a few people were washed away it was hard to know exactly how many were unaccounted for, because harsh conditions in the disaster area were hindering rescuers.

Authorities issued warnings that additional rain could trigger more landslides and flooding.

The land collapsed so quickly at multiple locations that evacuation advisories came an hour after the first mudslide, said Kenzo Kanayama, the city's disaster management chief. "We misjudged the situation. It was too late," he said.

"It's so regrettable," Kyodo News service quoted Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui as saying. "We'll find out what went wrong and take the necessary measures."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was on vacation, had to cancel his plans to play golf outside Tokyo and rush back to his office to set up a taskforce.

Landslides are a constant risk in mountainous, crowded Japan, where many homes are built on or near steep slopes. Torrential rains early Wednesday apparently caused slopes to collapse in an area where many of the buildings were newly constructed.

Hiroshima's geology, consisting of highly water-retentive soil, makes the city particularly prone to such disasters, said Hiroshi Ikeya, a landslide expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

The damage was extensive "because of intense rain, extremely fragile slopes and the disaster hitting in the dead of night," he said in an interview on NHK. Mudslides, floodwater, broken trees and debris flowed down the hill, smashing into houses, he said.

More than 30 people died in 1999 when Hiroshima was hit by hundreds of landslides.

Damage from land and mudslides has increased nationwide over the past few decades due to more frequent heavy rains, despite extensive work to stabilize slopes. In the past decade there have been nearly 1,200 landslides a year, according to the land ministry, up from an average of about 770 a year in the previous decade.

In October last year, multiple mudslides on Izu-Oshima, an island south of Tokyo, killed 35 people, four of whose bodies were never recovered. Those slides followed a typhoon that dumped more than 32 inches of rain in a single day.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/08...cmp=latestnews

39 Dead, Dozens Missing After Japan Landslides

ABC News

- ‎2 hours ago‎

Japanese police said the death toll from rain-triggered landslides on the outskirts of Hiroshima city rose to 39 on Thursday with 51 people still missing, as search efforts continued in the devastated area. . .