Japan quake death toll tops 200 as police comb burned-down market

Police on Tuesday began combing the burned-down remains of a market devastated by fire in Ishikawa Prefecture following the massive New Year’s Day earthquake, while authorities said the overall death toll had risen above 200.

The number of dead was especially high — 81 — in the hard-hit coastal city of Wajima, where the quake sparked a massive blaze that tore through the popular tourist market.

The number of those missing in the disaster, meanwhile, fell drastically to 102 after jumping to over 300 a day earlier, officials said. On Monday afternoon, the prefecture said 323 people were unaccounted for, having cast a wide net for information on those it had initially been unable to locate. But by Tuesday morning it had determined that more than 200 of those were safe.