Soldiers, firemen and emergency personnel made last-ditch efforts to rescue any survivors still trapped in the rubble from a New Year’s Day quake that devastated an area on Japan’s northwest coast and killed at least 84 people.
About 4,600 personnel have been deployed to help in the rescue and relief efforts, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said Thursday. The military dispatched an amphibious vessel carrying heavy machinery to the coast of the Noto Peninsula, while sniffer dogs scoured the wreckage.


