Japan PM Fumio Kishida dispatches emergency teams, orders using all means to save victims

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, on January 1, said that disaster relief forces, emergency teams and the fire department have been dispatched in the wake of the dozens of Earthquakes that struck Japan today.

"We are doing our best to gather local information regarding the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, and a Cabinet Office investigation team headed by the State Minister for Disaster Prevention has also arrived in Kanazawa by Self-Defense Force aircraft," Kishida said in an official statement.

能登半島地震に対し、現地の情報を全力で収集しており、自衛隊機で防災担当副大臣以下の内閣府調査チームも金沢に到着しております。
また、私自身も坂口輪島市長、泉谷珠洲市長と直接お話しました。
自衛隊の災害派遣、警察の広域緊急援助隊の派遣、消防の緊急消防援助隊の派遣を順次行っています。

— 岸田文雄 (@kishida230) January 1, 2024

 "We are sequentially dispatching the Self-Defense Forces to disaster relief, the police's Wide Area Emergency Relief Team, and the fire department's Emergency Fire Relief Team," he further said.

Kishida said that he has also ordered the rescue of locals trapped beneath the collapsed houses. The first earthquake had its epicenter off the Noto Peninsula and over 40 earthquakes from magnitudes 7.6 down to 3.8 were subsequently recorded, according to local media.

Apart from houses being destroyed, large-scale fires are also being reported in cities in the Ishikawa prefecture on the peninsula.

"It is necessary to rescue victims of collapsed buildings as soon as possible, and I have given instructions to use all means possible to reach the site as soon as possible. As it was a cold season, we ordered that essential supplies such as water, food, blankets, kerosene, gasoline, and diesel oil be sent by air and by sea," Kishida said.

"In light of the above circumstances, I have decided to upgrade the Specific Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters to the Emergency Disaster Countermeasures Headquarters, and I will serve as the Head of the Headquarters, taking the lead in responding to the earthquake disaster," he further stated.

Amid rising tsunami waves, locals in Ishikawa have been asked to evacuate and move to safer places.