Rescue operations race against time in rain-hit southwestern Japan
Jiji -- Jul 09
Search and rescue operations continued on Saturday in parts of the southwestern Japan prefectures of Fukuoka and Oita that have been devastated by landslides and floods caused by record rainfall.

The death toll reached at least 18, with more than 20 people out of contact in Fukuoka and over 500 stranded in Oita, local authorities said.

Police and fire departments of the prefectures, the Self-Defense Forces and the Japan Coast Guard have mobilized some 12,000 personnel to search for missing people, racing against time as 72 hours have passed since the Japan Meteorological Agency issued special emergency warnings against downpours in Fukuoka and Oita in the early evening on Thursday. Survival rates are believed to fall rapidly after 72 hours.

An emergency warning is issued to prevent people's lives from being endangered when the agency sees an imminent risk of an unusually massive natural disaster that may happen only once in decades.

As of late Saturday, 13 people had been confirmed dead in the city of Asakura in Fukuoka, two in the village of Toho in the same prefecture and three in the city of Hita in Oita.

九州北部を襲った記録的な大雨で8日、福岡県で新たに3人の遺体が見つかり、豪雨による死者は福岡県と大分県、合わせて18人になりました。 福岡県警によりますと、8日、福岡県朝倉市で流木の間や川岸の竹やぶから合わせて3人の女性が遺体で見つかったということです。

News sources: Jiji, ANNnewsCH