Central Japan quake death toll rises to 206

The death toll from a powerful earthquake that rocked Ishikawa Prefecture and surrounding areas in central Japan on New Year's Day rose to 206, with around 50 unaccounted as heavy rain continues to raise the risk of landslides in disaster-stricken areas, local authorities said, Report informs referring to Kyodo News.

The death toll includes eight people who were not directly killed by the magnitude-7.6 temblor, but who are believed to have died due to a deterioration in their health, in some cases associated with the stress of being evacuated.

The number of people unaccounted for dropped to 52, but the figure has fluctuated daily as the Ishikawa prefectural government is continuing to release the names of those it cannot reach even if it has no evidence they have been affected by the quake.

"Even if the information (that the person is missing) is wrong, it is OK if it turns out that the person is safe. We are releasing the numbers to narrow down those who really need to be searched for and rescued," an official of the local government said.

Over 26,000 people remain in evacuation centers, while some 3,100 residents are still cut off due to damaged roads, according to the prefectural government.

The prefectural government believes that many people may still be unable to report whether they are safe or not due to shortfalls in communications and severed traffic routes. The names of those unaccounted for are deleted from its website as soon as their whereabouts are confirmed.

The local government and the weather agency are also calling for people to be aware of unstable ground in quake-hit areas as rain has continued to fall since Tuesday, melting the snow and making the ground even softer.