Cold weather is making a difficult situation even worse for survivors of the deadly New Year's earthquake in central Japan. At least 222 people have been confirmed dead and thousands more still haven't returned to their homes as temperatures dip below freezing.

Snow clouds have covered much of the Noto Peninsula. By midday Tuesday, temperatures were hovering around zero -- and weather officials say the mercury will stay below 3 degrees Celsius.

It's especially hard for the region's elderly. Many have been transferred to care homes in nearby regions.
But some facilities in Ishikawa Prefecture say they're reaching their breaking point.

One special nursing home in Hakusan City took in 13 elderly residents from the hard-hit Wajima City.

The facility's director Kamisugi Kazuko says, "Normally, this is a corner of the corridor or, the back of the living room. But there is no space for people to sleep, and there is no bed."

The facility says it's short on room and beds. Right now, they're making people share rooms -- or setting up beds in shared spaces.

Kamisugi says, "We want to accept as many people as possible. But we only have so much staff. We don't have a place for these elderly people to sleep. We're at the end of our rope."

Many survivors are only now grappling with what happened. It's been about two weeks since the quake -- and for some, the memories are still fresh.

Seventy-five-year-old Ichimachi Toshio was living near the coast of Suzu City with his wife and her parents. They immediately evacuated after the first tremor. But 10 minutes later -- the tsunami caught up to them.

Ichimachi says, "All at once, the sea rose up around us. Right then I thought, oh, it's all over for me. But I fought and got my head above water."

Ichimachi, his wife and her mother survived -- but they lost his 89-year-old father-in-law. Two days later, Ichimachi found his body about 200 meters away from his home.

"I think it will take a long time to get closure," he says.

Ichimachi said he felt guilty for not searching harder for him, but said they didn't know if another tsunami was coming. He said the earthquake was stronger than he'd ever experienced. And the tsunami came at them far too fast.

As of Tuesday, 26 people are still unaccounted for. And another 16,000 are still living in emergency shelters. As for electricity, around 8,000 households are still without power as the days get colder.