Central Japan quake death toll reaches 180, with 120 still missing

KANAZAWA, Japan — The death toll from the powerful New Year's Day earthquake
that struck Ishikawa Prefecture and surrounding areas in central Japan reached 180 with 120
others unaccounted for, local authorities said Tuesday.
Local police are set to embark on a large-scale search operation later Tuesday with some
100 personnel in the rubble of a fire-gutted morning marketplace in Wajima, where a major
blaze broke out following the magnitude-7.6 quake.
More than 28,000 people continue to shelter at evacuation centers in Ishikawa Prefecture,
with around a dozen reportedly infected with the coronavirus at three locations in a town, while
at least 3,300 people, mainly in Wajima and the adjacent city of Suzu, remain isolated due to
severed roads.
More than 80 schools, including in Wajima and Suzu, cannot hold classes due to
damaged facilities.
At the Wajima marketplace, around 200 buildings were destroyed in the fire that began
on Jan. 1, according to the local municipal government and firefighters.
There were many wooden buildings in the market, which was popular with tourists due to
its more than 1,000 years of history.
Deaths from the quake, which registered a maximum 7 on the country's seismic intensity
scale, have been concentrated in Wajima and Suzu, while the number of people who are
unaccounted for has fluctuated due to conflicting information.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet approved the allocation of 4.74
billion yen ($33 million) from reserve funds of the fiscal 2023 budget to support the victims of
Noto Peninsula quake, including measures to help those affected cope with cold weather.
The government also plans to increase reserve funds earmarked in the draft budget for the
next fiscal year starting April from the current 500 billion yen, to fund disaster recovery efforts,
according to Kishida.
 Sen. Raffy Tulfo hits plan to import jeepneys from China
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Raffy Tulfo on Sunday questioned the supposed plan of the
government to purchase vehicles from China to replace the country’s traditional jeepneys, claiming the
move “reeks of corruption.”

“China is already invading the West Philippine Sea. Will we allow them to take over even our
roads?” Tulfo said in a statement.

The radio broadcaster-turned-lawmaker said he received information that the government was
planning to import modernized jeepneys from China for as much as P2.9 million per unit as part of the
multibillion-peso modernization program for public utility vehicles.

Tulfo pointed out that this was nearly triple the price of locally manufactured jeepneys that
comply with the strict safety requirements mandated by the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

He said Sarao Motors and Francisco Motors, two of the major jeepney manufacturers in the
country, had earlier offered their vehicles for as low as P900,000.

“[T]his project reeks of corruption considering that [the] local jeepney manufacturing industry
can produce a quality modern jeepney at a lower cost,” he said.

According to Tulfo, the government would be able to save P1.7 million for every vehicle it buys
from a local manufacturer instead of importing from China.

“Moreover,” he said, “if the cost of the jeepney to be purchased [locally] is around P900,000,
the government will be able to [provide] subsidies to implement the modernization at no cost to the
jeepney drivers and operators.”

In addition, he said, supporting local vehicle makers would help provide jobs to thousands of
Filipinos.

Last week, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III urged the DOTr to identify the
contractors who could rake in billions of pesos in profits for supplying the modernized jeepneys, which
he said actually looked like minibuses.

Drivers and operators of jeepneys and passenger vans were given until Dec. 31 to consolidate
into cooperatives or corporations for them to be allowed to continue to ply their routes. Those who did
not comply face the revocation of their franchises.

Meanwhile, Liga ng Transportasyon at Operator ng Pilipinas national president Orlando

Marquez said at a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday that the public utility vehicle modernization
will solve the traffic problem in the metropolis similar to how Singapore addressed the same problem
by introducing transport modernization.

“We support this modernization because we want [in Metro Manila what happened] in
developed countries like Singapore, which used to have a traffic problem. They modernized, they
introduced mass transport, so they resolved the problem which had been costing [their economy],” he
said.