Teams from police and fire departments alongside troops from Japan’s Self-Defence Force continue to search through mud and debris looking for the many people still feared missing in the mudslide that struck the coastal city of Atami in Japan on 03 July 201.
Search and rescue (SAR) operations involving of over 1,000 personnel, sniffer dogs and drones, have been ongoing for more than 80 hours. Two fatalities were reported on 03 July. Since then 3 more bodies have been located, bringing the total of fatalities to five. As of 06 July, between 25 and 29 people were still unaccounted for.
The disaster occurred after torrential rainfall in the area pushed mud and debris down slopes surrounding the seaside city of Atami in the district of Itazuma in Shizuoka Prefecture. More than 120 homes have been damaged or destroyed.
Japan’s Geospatial Information Authority released the aerial photographs of the site showing that the debris flow travelled a significant distance from slopes above Atami before widening and crashing through homes and streets of the city below.
