'I Am Deeply Anguished': PM Modi Writes to Japan's Kishida after Powerful Quake Kills Over 90 People

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written to his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, expressing grief over the lives lost in the powerful earthquake that struck Japan this week. This message came as Japanese rescuers searched for 222 people still missing four days after a devastating earthquake as the death toll approached 100.

“I am deeply anguished and concerned to learn about the major earthquake that struck Japan on 1 January 2024. I express my deepest condolence to the bereaved families of those who lost their lives. We stand in solidarity with Japan and its people affected by the disaster,” PM Modi was quoted as saying by sources. As a special strategic and global partner, India values its relationship with Japan, and is ready to extend all possible assistance at this hour, the Prime Minister added.

Thousands of rescuers from all over Japan have been battling aftershocks and roads littered with gaping holes and blocked by frequent landslides in the central Ishikawa region. On Thursday afternoon, the two older women were miraculously pulled alive from the remains of their homes in Wajima, one of them thanks to a sniffer dog.

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The port city of Wajima on the Noto Peninsula was one of the worst hit, with a pungent smell of soot still in the air and faint columns of smoke visible from a huge fire that destroyed hundreds of structures on the first day. Authorities said on Friday afternoon that 222 people were unaccounted for, down from an earlier count of 242, including 121 in Wajima and 82 in Suzu. The death toll was raised to 94 from 92, with 464 people injured.

Around 30,000 households were without electricity in the Ishikawa region, and 89,800 homes there and in two neighbouring regions had no water, AFP reported. The French agency said hundreds of people were in government shelters. Japan experiences hundreds of earthquakes every year and most cause no damage, with strict building codes in place for more than four decades.

Earthquakes have hit the Noto region with intensifying strength and frequency over the past five years. The country is haunted by a massive 9.0 magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.