Foreign News
Japan lifts tsunami warnings but warns quake damage ‘widespread’
At least 30 people have been reported dead after a massive earthquake hit the coast of central Japan on New Year’s Day with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warning that damage was “widespread” and casualties were likely to rise.
The magnitude 7.6 quake struck on Monday afternoon near the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, triggering the country’s first major tsunami warning since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that had about 18,500 people declared dead or missing in the northeast.
Speaking on Tuesday, Kishida said “extensive damage” had been confirmed with the quake bringing down buildings and triggering fires. Casualties were “numerous” he said, adding that it would be a “race against time” to rescue victims.
Authorities reported that rescue efforts have been hindered by damaged roads and that they are finding it difficult to assess the full extent of the fallout.
Officials have warned people in some areas to stay away from their homes because of the risk of more strong quakes. Aftershocks have continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture.
However, the initial tsunami warning, which was later downgraded, was lifted on Tuesday morning.
Citing local authorities, Kyodo news agency reported more than 20 deaths from the disaster. Public broadcaster NHK said 15 had died in the hard-hit town of Wajima near the epicentre, where 14 people were reported to be trapped in collapsed buildings. In nearby Suzu, it said some doctors were unable to reach a hospital that was relying on a backup generator for power.
Japan’s disaster management agency said it had received unconfirmed reports of 19 deaths earlier on Tuesday but official updates on the toll have been infrequent.
The Japan Meteorological Office said the country had been hit by 155 earthquakes since the initial tremor on Monday.
Wajima was hit by a tsunami of at least 1.2 metres (4 feet) and aerial news footage showed devastation from a major fire as a seven-storey building collapsed at the port.
The fire engulfed a row of houses with people being evacuated in the dark, some with blankets and others carrying babies.
Nobuko Sugimori, a 74-year-old resident of Nanao city in Ishikawa, said she had never experienced such a quake before. “I tried to hold the TV set to keep it from toppling over, but I could not even keep myself from swaying violently from side to side,” Sugimori told the Reuters news agency from her home, which had a large crack down its front wall and furniture scattered around the inside.
Across the road, 73-year-old Fujiko Ueno was counting her blessings. She said nearly 20 people were in her house for a New Year celebration when the quake happened but nobody was injured. “It all happened in the blink of an eye,” she said, standing in the street among debris from the wreckage and mud that oozed out of the cracked road.
Nearly 100,000 people across nine prefectures were evacuated and spent the night in sports halls and school gymnasiums, commonly used as evacuation centres in emergencies in Japan.
Almost 33,000 households remained without power in Ishikawa prefecture early on Tuesday morning, according to Hokuriku Electric Power’s website. NHK said most areas in the northern Noto Peninsula were also without water.
As a result of the disaster, the Imperial Household Agency cancelled Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako’s New Year’s appearance, which had been expected to take place on Tuesday.
Japan’s allies expressed their concern at the disaster and said they were ready to offer assistance. “As close allies, the United States and Japan share a deep bond of friendship that unites our people. Our thoughts are with the Japanese people during this difficult time,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “solidarity”, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered condolences and assistance.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was monitoring developments. “My thoughts are with all those affected by the earthquakes in Japan which have caused such terrible damage,” he said.
(Aljazeera)
Myanmar’s governing military has declared a unilateral, temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war to facilitate rescue efforts after last week’s powerful earthquake, as state television reported the death toll from the disaster had surpassed 3,000.
MRTV said that the truce would last from Wednesday until April 22 and was aimed at making quake relief efforts easier.
The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule. Those groups must refrain from attacking the state, or regrouping, or else the military will take “necessary” measures, the army said in a statement.
The death toll from the earthquake in Myanmar rose to 3,003, and more than 4,500 were injured, MRTV reported late on Wednesday.
In neighbouring Thailand, the death toll from the quake rose to 22, with hundreds of buildings damaged and 72 people missing.
In an incident underlining the challenge of delivering relief at a time of civil war in Myanmar, the military said its troops fired warning shots after a Chinese Red Cross convoy failed to pull over as it travelled in a conflict zone.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the media that its rescue team and supplies were safe after the incident on Tuesday.
Guo Jiakun, a ministry spokesperson, said at a news conference that Beijing hoped “all factions and parties in Myanmar will prioritise earthquake relief efforts, ensuring the safety of rescue personnel and supplies from China and other countries”.
“It’s necessary to keep transportation routes for relief efforts open and unobstructed,” Guo said.
Military government spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said the Chinese Red Cross had not informed authorities it was in a conflict zone on Tuesday night, and a security team fired shots in the air after the convoy, which included local vehicles, failed to stop.
The military has struggled to run Myanmar following its coup against the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, reducing the economy and basic services, including healthcare, to tatters after civil war broke out.
The United Nations said more than 28 million people in the six regions were affected by the earthquake and that it put in place $12m in emergency funding for food, shelter, water, sanitation, mental health support and other services.
As hopes of finding more survivors were fading on Wednesday, rescuers pulled two men alive from the ruins of a hotel in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, and a third from a guesthouse in another city – five days after the magnitude 7.7 quake. But most teams were finding only bodies.
The rural parts of the hard-hit Sagaing region, mostly under the control of armed resistance groups fighting the military government, are among the most challenging for aid agencies to reach.
Earlier, Human Rights Watch urged the military government to allow unfettered access for humanitarian aid and lift curbs impeding aid agencies, saying donors should channel aid through independent groups rather than only the authorities.
“Myanmar’s junta cannot be trusted to respond to a disaster of this scale,” Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a report. “Concerned governments and international agencies need to press the junta to allow full and immediate access to survivors, wherever they are.”
[Aljazeera]
Three Americans convicted for their role in a failed coup in Democratic Republic of Congo last year have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the presidency has said.
They were among 37 people sentenced to death last September by a military court.
The three were accused of leading an attack on both the presidential palace and the home of an ally of President Félix Tshisekedi last May.
The overturning of the sentences comes ahead of a visit to DR Congo by the newly appointed US senior advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos.
Boulos, father-in-law to President Donald Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, is expected to arrive in Kinshasa on Thursday on a trip that will also take him to Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.
The US has not declared the three Americans to be wrongfully jailed in DR Congo but the State Department said previously there have been talks between the countries over the matter.
The three were convicted of criminal conspiracy, terrorism and other charges, which they denied.
[BBC]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nominated a former Navy commander to head the country’s domestic security services, despite the courts having blocked his bid to fire the previous head of Shin Bet.
Netanyahu’s office announced on Monday that he had nominated Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit to lead the agency, which surveils attacks from abroad and at home, including by armed groups based in Palestine and Lebanon. However, a halt to the sacking of Ronen Bar as head of Shin Bet, ordered by the Supreme Court, remains in place.
[Aljazeera]
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