Photo/Illutration An area in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 22. The city has the highest number of fatalities related to the Noto Peninsula earthquake by municipality. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

An additional 22 deaths are expected to be confirmed as caused by the Noto Peninsula earthquake, sending the disaster’s death toll to 282 and surpassing that of the 2016 Kumamoto quakes.

That will make the New Year's Day quake the third deadliest quake in Japan since the Heisei Era (1989-2019), behind only the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.

A joint review committee of Ishikawa Prefecture and the cities of Wajima and Nanao made the determination of the latest deaths on June 18 while meeting to examine 26 claims of disaster-related deaths.

The committee confirmed that 22 of those deaths, 19 in Wajima and three in Nanao, could be attributed to the Jan. 1 quake and its aftermath—such as the difficult living conditions in evacuation shelters.

The remaining four cases in Wajima will continue to be examined.

The committee asked both cities to officially confirm that these 22 deaths were “disaster related” as well.

The review committee met previously in May and confirmed another 30 disaster-related deaths at that time.

According to prefectural officials, deaths in three Ishikawa Prefecture municipalities were asked to be confirmed, which they did later that month, bringing the official death toll to 260.

According to an Asahi Shimbun survey, by June 13 at least 178 deaths in six municipalities had been submitted by bereaved families for consideration as “disaster related,” including the already confirmed 30.

The review committee is scheduled to meet once a month to examine these cases and the death toll is expected to increase.

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