Teams struggled in freezing temperatures in an attempt to locate survivors of the 7.6 magnitude shock that decimated huge swathes of the country’s west coast, killing dozens and flattening tens of thousands of homes.
Prime minister Fumio Kishida said emergency services were now in a “race against time” to locate survivors as 3,000 rescuers face fires amid the twisted and mangled remains of buildings as they inch their way through debris at the northern tip of the Noto Peninsula.
Last night, some 120 people were awaiting rescue, the Japanese government said.
Mr Kishida said: “The government has deployed emergency rescue teams from the self-defence forces, police and fire departments to the area and is doing its utmost to save lives and rescue victims and survivors, but we have received reports that there are still many people waiting to be rescued under collapsed buildings.”
In Suzu, a coastal town of 5,000 homes near the quake’s epicentre, nine in 10 of houses were destroyed by the New Year’s Day tremor.
Around 200 tremors have been detected since the quake struck on Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It warned more strong shocks could hit in the coming days.
Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said no irregularities have been found at plants along the Sea of Japan, including five active reactors at the Ohi and Takahama plants.
Japan sits in one of the most active earthquake zones on earth.
The Philippine plate and the Pacific plate are moving towards the much bigger continental Eurasian and North American plates – up to around 9 cm each year.
Japan was still experiencing tremors, the latest a 4.9 quake in Ishikawa yesterday.
Monday’s earthquake was the largest in the Noto Peninsula since records began in 1885.
