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▼ 6 Unaccounted For After Landslide in Oita Prefecture
- Category:Event
OITA - A massive landslide engulfed four houses in a tourist town in the southwestern prefecture of Oita early Wednesday morning, leaving six people unaccounted for and severing a road leading to the site, local authorities said.
A mountain slope collapsed behind a group of houses at around 3:50 a.m. in the town of Yabakei, located in the Yabakei valley. The collapsed slope, covered in cedar, was about 100 meters in width and 50 to 60 meters in height, police said.
The six people are a man in his 40s and five women aged in their 20s to 90s residing in three of the four houses hit by the landslide, according to the police.
Some 200 police officers and firefighters were searching the area, while the Self-Defense Forces also launched a rescue mission at the site after the Oita prefectural government called for help.
The cause of the landslide remains unknown, with a local meteorological observatory saying it recorded no rainfall of 0.5 millimeters or over in the area in the 24 hours to 4 a.m.
"I am worried because all the residents are my acquaintances," said a 76-year-old man living some 2 kilometers from the landslide site, adding he felt that the ground in the area had loosened after major earthquakes struck Kumamoto and Oita prefectures in 2016.
The town is part of the Yabahitahikosan quasi-national park and is in the scenic Yabakei valley, which draws 800,000 tourists every year, according to the municipal government.
© KYODO
A mountain slope collapsed behind a group of houses at around 3:50 a.m. in the town of Yabakei, located in the Yabakei valley. The collapsed slope, covered in cedar, was about 100 meters in width and 50 to 60 meters in height, police said.
The six people are a man in his 40s and five women aged in their 20s to 90s residing in three of the four houses hit by the landslide, according to the police.
Some 200 police officers and firefighters were searching the area, while the Self-Defense Forces also launched a rescue mission at the site after the Oita prefectural government called for help.
The cause of the landslide remains unknown, with a local meteorological observatory saying it recorded no rainfall of 0.5 millimeters or over in the area in the 24 hours to 4 a.m.
"I am worried because all the residents are my acquaintances," said a 76-year-old man living some 2 kilometers from the landslide site, adding he felt that the ground in the area had loosened after major earthquakes struck Kumamoto and Oita prefectures in 2016.
The town is part of the Yabahitahikosan quasi-national park and is in the scenic Yabakei valley, which draws 800,000 tourists every year, according to the municipal government.
© KYODO
- April 11, 2018
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