The death toll from Japan’s New Year’s Day earthquake jumped to 161 on Monday as snow complicated relief efforts with more than 2,000 people still cut off and many others lacking power or in crowded emergency shelters.
Authorities said 103 people were still missing after the 7.5-magnitude quake that toppled buildings, sparked a major fire and triggered tsunami waves over a metre high in the central Ishikawa region.
As of Sunday, almost a week later, more than 2,000 people were still cut off by the damage the quake and an estimated 1,000 landslides did to roads on the worst-hit Noto Peninsula.
In the last two days, the region has also been blanketed in snow, with some areas receiving more than 10 centimetres (four inches) overnight, making the operation harder still.
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