Western Japan earthquakes have claimed 100 lives; rain and snow imperil already shaky ground

By HIRO KOMAE, AYAKA MCGILL and YURI KAGEYAMA
Associated Press

WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — Aftershocks are threatening to bury more homes and block roads crucial for relief shipments, as the death toll from the earthquakes that rattled Japan’s western coastline last week reached 100. Among the dead was a 5-year-old boy who had been recovering from injuries from Monday’s 7.6 magnitude earthquake. The risk of landslides was growing with rain and snow expected overnight and Sunday. More than 500 people were injured. The temblors left roofs sitting haplessly on roads, with everything beneath them crushed flat. Roads were warped like rubber. A fire turned a neighborhood in Wajima to ashes. More than 200 people were still unaccounted for.