In Japan, the death toll from last week’s powerful earthquake and mudslides in Hokkaido has risen to 44, police and officials said. Hundreds of people were injured in the magnitude 6.7 quake that struck early on Thursday morning.
Most of the fatalities were in Atsuma, where massive landslides killed 36 people. The landslides destroyed houses and left roads and rice paddies covered in a thick layer of mud.
Authorities in Hokkaido say that as of Sunday evening, there were about 2,600 people in evacuation shelters.
Hokkaido Electric Power Company was forced to shut down the largest thermal power plant in the prefecture after the quake and says restarting it could take more than a week.
