Japan quake toll raises to 35

TOKYO: The death toll from a powerful quake that triggered landslides in northern Japan rose to 35 on Saturday, as tens of thousands of rescue workers raked through the mud for survivors.

The majority of the dead are from the small rural town of Atsuma, where a cluster of dwellings were wrecked when a hillside collapsed from the force of the 6.6-magnitude quake, causing deep brown scars in the landscape.

Public broadcaster NHK said 35 were dead, with around five people still unaccounted for in the town. More than 600 sustained minor injuries, according to the Hokkaido island local government.Some 40,000 rescue workers, including Self-Defence Forces drafted in specially, were searching for survivors with the aid of bulldozers, sniffer dogs and 75 helicopters, according to the top government spokesman. “They’re doing their best around the clock,” Yoshi­hide Suga told reporters.

All three million households in Hokkaido lost power when Thursday’s quake damaged a thermal plant supplying electricity to the region, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said power was mostly restored.