Local authorities are speeding up efforts to move evacuees of the powerful earthquake that rocked Ishikawa Prefecture and other central Japan areas on New Year's Day to hotels and other accommodations after challenging conditions at evacuation centers are believed to have resulted in multiple deaths.
The death toll from the quake rose to 206 on Wednesday, according to the authorities, with the figure including eight people who were not directly killed by the magnitude-7.6 temblor but are believed to have died due to a deterioration in their health conditions, in some cases associated with the stress of being evacuated.
Over 26,000 people remain in evacuation centers, while some 3,100 residents are still cut off due to damaged roads, according to the prefectural government.
The prefectural government is temporarily transferring evacuees to other locations away from disaster-stricken areas as it tries to secure more comfortable accommodations. Evacuees in Ishikawa's Wajima on Wednesday boarded buses bound for a prefectural sports center in Kanazawa.
The central government is expected to arrange accommodations for approximately 10,000 evacuees in Ishikawa, Toyama, Fukui, and Niigata prefectures within the week, according to sources close to the matter.
Meanwhile, the number of people unaccounted for dropped to 52, but the figure has fluctuated daily as the prefectural government continues releasing the names of individuals it cannot reach, even if there is no indication they have been affected by the quake.
"Even if the information (that the person is missing) is wrong, it is OK if it turns out the person is safe. We are releasing the numbers to narrow down those who really need to be searched for and rescued," a local government official said.
The prefectural government believes that many people may still be unable to report whether they are safe due to shortfalls in communications and severed traffic routes. The names of those unaccounted for are deleted from its website as soon as their whereabouts are confirmed.
The local government and the weather agency are also calling for people to be aware of unstable ground in quake-hit areas, as rain has continued to fall since Tuesday, melting the snow and making the ground even softer.
In areas affected by the Jan. 1 quake, which registered a maximum 7 on the country's seismic intensity scale, local authorities are stepping up inspections on buildings at risk of collapse to prevent secondary damage.
At a gutted market in Wajima, where a major blaze broke out following the quake, a large-scale search operation continued for the second day, with police officers removing the rubble by hand.
By municipality, Suzu, a city on the northern tip of the Noto Peninsula, and adjacent Wajima have seen the largest number of fatalities, with 91 and 83 killed, respectively.
Related coverage:
Central Japan quake death toll tops 200, over 100 unaccounted for
Over 300 unaccounted for after Japan quake, snow hampers rescue work
Search continues in areas hit by central Japan quake amid rain
