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Heavy snow claims 61 lives in Japan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2006-01-08 11:32
Japan's Defense Agency has dispatched disaster relief units to help residents
deal with the massive snowfall which has claimed dozens of lives since last
month.
Japanese soldiers
help residents clearing snow in the Iiyama city. Japan's Defense Agency
has dispatched disaster relief units to help residents deal with the
massive snowfall which has claimed dozens of lives since last month.
[AFP] |
At least 61 people have died, some
falling while shovelling the snow off house roofs and others in traffic
accidents, the nation's largest daily Yomiuri Shimbun and Kyodo News news agency
reported Saturday.
One of the disaster relief units sent from Japan's
Ground Self-Defense Force helped residents of Iiyama, Nagano prefecture, 200
kilometers (125 miles) northwest of capital, remove snow following a request
from the local government, the agency said.
A woman digs to
create a pathway through heavy snow which has piled up to over three
metres in the northern Japanese town of Tsunan January 6,
2006. [Reuters] |
Snow-bound central Niigata prefecture, facing the Sea of Japan, also
requested a disaster relief unit, which had already been dispatched, the agency
said.
The Japanese meteorological agency warned that snow would continue to blanket
northern and western Japan over the weekend.
Fourteen locations in Japan have been hit by record snowfall with some of
them covered by more than 300 centimeters (10 feet), the agency said.
In Tsunanmachi, Niigata prefecture, a record 393 centimeters of snow has
fallen while Nozawaonsenmura in Nagano prefecture has been blanketed with 329
centimeters of snow as of Saturday afternoon, according to the agency.
Japan, which renounces war and possession of military, calls its troops
Self-Defense Forces.
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