Japanese authorities say 37 people have been confirmed dead from a powerful earthquake that struck the northern island of Hokkaido last week.
The Hokkaido government today said that two people remain missing and one other person remains serious. Rescue workers are using backhoes and shovels to search for the missing in a tangle of dirt and the rubble of homes left by multiple landslides in the town of Atsuma.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited a hard-hit area of Sapporo, the main city in Hokkaido. The magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck on Thursday before daybreak knocking out power and train service across Hokkaido. It took two days to restore electricity to most of the island of 5.4 million people.
