Plummeting temperatures plague Ishikawa quake relief effort

Plummeting temperatures, rain and continued aftershocks continued to plague relief efforts in earthquake-hit Ishikawa Prefecture on Wednesday as the death toll rose to 206, nine days after a massive temblor rocked the Noto Peninsula area.

The hard-hit cities of Suzu and Wajima accounted for 91 and 83 of the dead, respectively. The number of people unaccounted for in the disaster, meanwhile, fell to 52 from 102 a day earlier.

Relief efforts were continuing but quake-damaged roads made attempts to reach isolated communities difficult, though Self-Defense Forces troops cleared at least one road of rubble from a landslide, after the mercury dipped to around 3 degrees Celsius in Suzu and Wajima on Wednesday morning.