After Monday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake in Japan, which hit Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu, at least 155 aftershocks of varied intensities rocked the island country in the next 24 hours, causing at least 26 casualties, till latest reports.
Monday’s quake triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, toppled buildings, caused a major port fire and tore apart roads.
As daylight arrived, the scale of the destruction on the Noto Peninsula emerged with buildings still smouldering, houses flattened and fishing boats sunk or washed ashore.
“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.”
Aerial news footage showed devastation from a major fire in Wajima, where a seven-storey building collapsed.
Almost 45,000 households were without power in the region, which saw temperatures touch freezing overnight, the local energy provider said. Many cities were without running water.
Images on social media showed cars and houses in Ishikawa shaking violently and terrified people cowering in shops and train stations. Houses collapsed and huge cracks appeared in roads.
A team of firefighters crawled under a collapsed, large commercial building in Wajima, television footage showed.
The fire in Wajima engulfed a row of houses, video footage showed, with people being evacuated in the dark, some with blankets and others carrying babies.
Ishikawa Governor Hiroshi Hase wrote on X, that roads have been cut in widespread areas by landslides or cracking, while in the port of Suzu “multiple” vessels had capsized.
A total of 62,000 people had been ordered to evacuate, according to the fire and disaster management agency.
About 1,000 people were staying at a military base, the defence ministry said.
Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said 1,000 military personnel were preparing to go to the region, while 8,500 others were on standby. Around 20 military aircraft were dispatched to survey the damage.
Monday’s quake shook apartments in the capital Tokyo about 300 kilometres away, where a public New Year greeting event that was to be attended by Emperor Naruhito and his family members was cancelled.
Several major highways were closed around the epicentre, Japan’s road operator said, and bullet train services from Tokyo were also suspended.
Japan experiences hundreds of earthquakes every year and the vast majority cause no damage.
The number of earthquakes in the Noto Peninsula region has been steadily increasing since 2018, a Japanese government report said last year.
Japan is haunted by a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake off northeastern Japan in 2011 that triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.
It also swamped the Fukushima atomic plant, causing one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.
Japan’s nuclear authority said there were no abnormalities reported at the Shika atomic power plant in Ishikawa or at other plants after Monday’s quake.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden offered Japan “any necessary assistance” to cope with the aftermath.
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “solidarity” while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered condolences and assistance.
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