Japan earthquake recovery hampered by weather, aftershocks as number of people listed as missing soars

Wajima, Japan — Thousands of people made homeless in an instant by the powerful earthquake in western Japan were still living in weariness and uncertainty Monday a week after the temblor struck and killed at least 168 people. The number of people listed as missing amid the destruction in the quake zone jumped, meanwhile, to more than 323.

That figure roughly tripled over the course of Monday alone, as rescuers pored over a list of the region's population and compared it to lists of those accounted for after the disaster.

The rescue effort since the magnitude 7.6 New Year's Day quake has drawn thousands of troops, firefighters and police, who continued picking through collapsed buildings Monday hoping to find survivors.