Hundreds of rescue workers continued to search on Monday in Atami, southwest of Tokyo, for people who have been missing since a mudslide on Saturday.
The mayor of the city now speaks of 113 missing people.
Previously, the number was given as around 20.
Patrick Welter
Correspondent for business and politics in Japan, based in Tokyo.
Follow I follow
So far, three people have been recovered dead. 22 were rescued from houses on the steep slope at the weekend, three were seriously injured. The search and rescue operation was interrupted again and again after further rainfalls due to the danger of landslides. Coast Guard forces also looked for possible victims in the sea in front of the city on Sunday.
The confusion about the number of missing people is based on different information. Immediately after the accident, residents of Atami reported people missing to the city administration. Therefore, the first mentioned number of about 20 people results. The city administration has now declared that 215 people lived in the affected area. The whereabouts of 102 people have been clarified, while the fate of 113 people is unclear. They may not have been in Atami at the time of the disaster, or they may have been swept away by the mud.
Heavy rainfall on Saturday night softened the ground above the seaside resort and triggered a huge landslide, which, according to eyewitness reports, led to a mudslide that slid through the town in several waves. Around 130 houses in the city with around 20,000 households were destroyed or damaged by the masses of mud. The electricity supply was partially interrupted. The mud came so quickly that many people could no longer get to safety. There was a loud noise, then the mud was already there, reported a local resident. In the 48 hours before the accident, meteorologists measured a rainfall of 313 millimeters in the place. Only 245 millimeters is common throughout July.
Atami is a popular destination around 90 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, which is known for its hot springs. The city is located directly on the coast and stretches up a steep mountain slope. The mudslide rolled over a length of about two kilometers down a river bed that runs through the place. The television station NHK reported that the avalanche originated in an area in which soil had been dumped for land development in recent years. The causes of the mudslide are being investigated, said the governor of Shizuoka Prefecture.
More heavy rains were forecast in the region this Monday. The authorities called on people to go to emergency shelters early if necessary. The rainy season in Japan is currently reaching a peak. There are frequent landslides and floods during these weeks of the year. On Sunday, the victims of heavy rainfall and flooding a year ago were commemorated in southwest Kumamoto Prefecture. At that time, 67 people died in the prefecture.