A Japan Coast Guard aircraft collides with a Japan Airlines passenger plane, resulting in five deaths. Meanwhile, rescuers struggle after a New Year’s Day earthquake claims 50 lives and causes extensive damage.
The passenger plane’s 379 occupants are safely evacuated, but five crew members perish.
The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.5, triggers a tsunami, fires, and destruction, leaving buildings damaged, roads torn apart, and lives disrupted.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida emphasizes the urgency of rescue efforts as casualties rise and widespread devastation unfolds.
The way 2024 started will be etched into my memory forever, says a resident, describing the long and violent earthquake that shook Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu.
“I’m amazed the house is this broken and everyone in my family managed to come out of it unscathed,” says a resident in the badly hit city of Wajima. Almost 33,000 households are without power, and many cities lack running water.
The US Geological Survey reports a magnitude of 7.5, while Japan’s meteorological agency measures it at 7.6, part of over 210 earthquakes in the region.
Japan, haunted by the 2011 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami, now faces the aftermath of another natural disaster.
