Typhoon Hagibis Attacks Japan, Thousands Deployed for Rescue Operations

In Japan, more than ten thousand rescuers were deployed to rescue people, who are trapped by landslides and floods caused by the powerful typhoon ‘Hagibis’, which has so far killed 35 people. Typhoon Hagibis, which is already slowed down, has left a trail of destruction in surrounding regions leaving the capital city Tokyo with little scratches.

More than 100,000 rescuers which include 31,000 troops are searching through the debris to reach people who are trapped after torrential rain that has caused landslides and filled rivers, till they burst their banks.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared, “The government will do its utmost. Please do your best”, he instructed officials in a disaster management meeting. India too offered support. 

India has sent two warships to the waters of Japan to help the Asian nation in its relief operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his condolences to Japan.

Prime Minister also tweeted, “India stands in solidarity with Japan at this difficult hour. Personnel of the Indian Navy, in Japan on a scheduled visit, will be happy to assist immediately”.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, also said that he is, “saddened by reports of loss of life and extensive destruction caused by Hagibis, and extended his deep condolences to the families of the victims”. 

The destruction also forced the cancellation of several games of the Rugby World Cup hosted by Japan, but the ‘Brave Blossoms’, the national team of Japan, lifted the spirits with a stunning 28-21 victory over Scotland thereby putting them into the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time.

Japan government has put the death toll at 14 and another 11 people missing, but according to the local media at least 35 people had been killed and at least 11 were still missing.

Military and fire department helicopters are rescuing survivors from the rooftops and balconies in several locations. While, on the other hand, rescue workers carried out an hour-long boat operation to evacuate hundreds of people from a retirement home in Kawagoe in the northwest of Tokyo.

Typhoon Hagibis which poured first into the main Japanese island of Honshu on Saturday night is one of the most violent typhoons in recent years, with wind speed up to 216 kilometres (134 miles) per hour. It played havoc as soon as it touched the land surface.

Typhoon Hagibis was a powerful and large tropical cyclone that was considered the most devastating typhoon to hit the Kanto region of Japan since Typhoon Ida did in the year 1958. The Typhoon is the nineteenth named storm and the ninth typhoon of the 2019 Pacific typhoon season, Hagibis was developed from a tropical wave hundred miles north of the Marshall Islands on October 2nd and finally weaken after 10 days on October 13th. 

Now as the relief operations are on, more than 110,000 homes are without power and other necessities of life. Japan will require few more months to fully recover from the effects of the Typhoon.