Talas Left 42 Dead and 55 Missing in Japan

The death toll after typhoon “Talas” in Japan has risen to 42 while totaling 55 missing. Efforts to get emergency supplies to thousands of people held incommunicado continue.

In Nara and Wakayama, the most affected provinces, there is still danger of further landslides and communities are lacking clean water. In Nara there are 1680 houses that lack of power supply and about 20,000 telephone lines are out of service in Wakayama.

The search for missing people has been complicated by landslides of mud that blocked highways, power lines and pipes in various areas have to be repaired, so the use of heavy machinery to unblock the ways is being considered.

“Talas”, downgraded to tropical storm, now moves across the Sea of ​​north Japan along with the “Noru” typhoon, which moves through the northeast coast of Japan, causing heavy rainfall on the island of Hokkaido and other areas the north, where alerts have been triggered by landslides and floods.