Local authorities put the death toll at 48, but the number is expected to rise as rescuers comb through the rubble.
This aerial photo shows damaged and destroyed homes along a street in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, a day after a huge earthquake struck the prefecture’s Noto region. [Fred Mery/ AFP]
Japanese rescuers battled the clock and powerful aftershocks on Tuesday as they searched for survivors of a New Year’s Day earthquake that killed dozens and caused widespread destruction.
The magnitude 7.5 earthquake that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, caused a major fire and tore apart roads.
On the Noto peninsula, the destruction included buildings damaged by fire, houses flattened, fishing boats sunk or washed ashore, and highways hit by landslides.
“I’m amazed the house is this broken and everyone in my family managed to come out of it unscathed,” said Akiko, standing outside her parents’ tilting home in the badly hit city of Wajima.
The way 2024 started “will be etched into my memory forever,” she said following the “long and violent” earthquake.
“It was such a powerful jolt,” Tsugumasa Mihara, 73, said as he queued with hundreds of others for water in the nearby town of Shika.
Local authorities have put the death toll at 48, but the number is expected to rise as rescuers comb the rubble.
“Very extensive damage has been confirmed, including numerous casualties, building collapses and fires,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said, after a disaster response meeting.
“We have to race against time to search for and rescue victims of the disaster.”
Almost 33,000 households were without power in the region, which saw temperatures touch freezing overnight, the local energy provider said. Many cities were without running water. [JIJI Press/ AFP]
The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.5. Japan’s meteorological agency measured it at 7.6, and said it was one of more than 210 to shake the region through Tuesday evening. [Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP]
Houses collapsed and huge cracks appeared in roads, while others were hit by landslides. Forecasters warned that rains could further loosen soil on hillsides. [Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP]
Monday’s quake shook apartments in the capital, Tokyo, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) away, where a public New Year’s Day greeting event by Emperor Naruhito was cancelled. [Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP]
The number of earthquakes in the Noto peninsula region has been steadily increasing since 2018, a Japanese government report said last year. [JIJI Press/AFP]
People queue around the Shika Town Hall as they wait to receive water at a distribution point in Shika, Ishikawa prefecture. [Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP]
Overnight, about 1,400 people were stuck on suspended bullet trains, including Georgia’s ambassador to Japan, Teimuraz Lezhava, who praised the ‘kindness of the station staff and the passengers around us’ on social media. [Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP]
