Japan quake death toll rises to 94 with 222 missing

ANAMIZU, Japan: Hampered by bad weather and damaged roads, Japanese rescuers searched on Friday for 222 people still missing four days after a devastating earthquake as the death toll approached 100.

Two elderly women were pulled from the rubble on Thursday, but hopes of finding other survivors after the 7.5 magnitude quake on New Year´s Day were fading with rain, snow and falling temperatures forecast in the coming days.

Thousands of rescuers from all over Japan have been battling aftershocks and roads littered with gaping holes and blocked by frequent landslides in the central Ishikawa region to reach hundreds of people in stranded communities.

On Thursday afternoon, 72 hours after the quake, the two older women were miraculously pulled alive from the remains of their homes in Wajima, one of them thanks to a sniffer dog.