Landslides in Japan, dozens of people were killed and missing

Japan National Police Agency said at least 18 people were killed, 20 injured and about 20 missing in a serious landslide in Hiroshima City, west of the country in the night. August 19.

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According to the agency, dozens of houses have been buried under hundreds of cubic meters of rock collapsed due to record heavy rainfall in Hiroshima on August 19. Meanwhile, NHK TV station said that among the dead were women and children. The number of missing people does not have accurate statistics.

Rescue forces are present at the place of landslides.(Source: Reuters)

In 24 hours, the measured rainfall in this area was recorded as 243mm, a record level. Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate due to heavy rains threatening flooding in the city.

Immediately after the incident, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe directed local agencies and departments to quickly implement rescue, rescue and support work for people in the affected area.

The Hiroshima government also proposed that the Earth Defense Force (GSDF) support the rescue work and the Ministry of Defense has now sent about 30 GSDF members to the rescue operation, but said the number of soldiers could be increased to 630.

According to the Japanese government, in the past decade, there were about 1,200 landslides causing serious damage, up from the average of 770 cases / year of the previous decade.

Last October, successive landslides on Izu-Oshima island, south of Tokyo, claimed 35 lives and four are still missing.