Japan earthquake – live: Rescuers ‘battle against time’ as death toll rises to 30

At least 30 people have now been confirmed killed in the strong earthquake that jolted Japan on New Year’s Day, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of people and issue a tsunami warning.

A 7.6 earthquake struck the Ishikawa prefecture on Monday, destroying houses and tearing up roads on the Noto peninsula, making it difficult for rescuers to reach the worst-affected areas.

Rescue teams on Tuesday struggled to get to the northern-most tip of the peninsula as well as other isolated areas hit by the tremor.

Some rail services, ferries and flights remained cancelled.

Over 200 buildings in the central Wajima area near the epicentre were charred by a fire that erupted in the wake of the earthquakes, Ishikawa prefectural officials said.

There have been 14 reports of people being trapped under rubble in the city, Kyodo News reported, citing city officials.

The tsunami warnings issued in Japan following a strong 7.6 magnitude earthquake were lifted early on Tuesday morning.

A series of earthquakes and aftershocks jolted the Ishikawa prefecture on Monday afternoon, prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue a major tsunami warning for the prefecture and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of the western coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu and Hokkaido in the north.

Following the earthquakes, waves measuring more than 3 feet hit some places on Monday.

The tsunami warning was downgraded several hours later, and all tsunami warnings were lifted as of early Tuesday.

Water containing radioactive materials from the fuel pools of two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture spilled over during Monday’s earthquake, the authorities said.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) later said the spill was contained inside the building and no damage outside was reported.

The incident took place just days after Japan’s nuclear power regulator lifted an operational ban on the power plant, which had been in place for nearly two years.

The Nuclear Regulation Authority said no irregularities were found at nuclear plants along the Sea of Japan, including five active reactors at Kansai Electric Power’s Ohi and Takahama plants in Fukui Prefecture.

Hokuriku Electric’s Shika plant, the closest to the epicentre, had already halted its two reactors before the quake for regular inspections and saw no impact from the tremors, the agency said.

A major quake and tsunami in March 2011 caused three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation at the Fukushima nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.

Japan’s prime minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday morning said the search and rescue of those impacted by Monday’s earthquakes was a “battle against time”.

During an emergency disaster meeting, the prime minister said rescuers were finding it very difficult to reach the northern tip of the Noto peninsula due to wrecked roads, and that helicopter surveys had discovered many fires and widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure.

“As time passes, the effect of the disaster is becoming more and more clear,” Mr Kishida said.

The federal government has established an emergency disaster and local response headquarters in Ishikawa prefecture to offer support to the locals.

Two dozen people were killed in Japan after a strong 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit Asia’s second-biggest economy on Monday, triggering a trail of destruction.

At least 24 deaths had been confirmed so far, mainly in the hard-hit town of Wajima near the quake’s epicentre where a massive blaze broke out following the jolts.

The national police agency said six people had been confirmed dead, and the fire and disaster management agency said 19 people were in a state of cardiac arrest.

Nearly 32,700 households, including medical facilities in Ishikawa Prefecture, remained without power and multiple cities lost access to fresh water, Japan Times reported.

Japanese emergency services have been overwhelmed by the number of calls they have received from people trapped under rubble following a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Japan.

National broadcasters NHK reported that a Wajima City fire station had more than 50 calls from people about houses that had collapsed.

Some callers said those trapped under buildings were unconscious and another caller said an office building collapsed.

An unknown number of people are trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings in several towns. Army personnel were dispatched to help with rescue operations, while one local airport remained shut down after the quake tore open cracks in the runway.

A powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday, killing at least six people and forcing thousands to evacuate.

Situated on the “Ring of Fire” arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, and each year experiences up to 2,000 quakes.

Following are some major Japanese quakes in the last 30 years:

– On Jan. 16, 1995, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 hit central Japan, devastating the western port city of Kobe. The worst earthquake to hit the country in 50 years killed more than 6,400 and caused an estimated $100 billion in damage.

– On Oct. 23, 2004, a 6.8 magnitude quake struck the Niigata region, about 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, killing 65 people and injuring 3,000.

– On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan, killing nearly 20,000 people and causing a meltdown in Fukushima, leading to the world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

– On April 16, 2016, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck in Kumamoto on the southern island of Japan, killing more than 220 people.

– On March 16, 2022, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake jolted the coast off Fukushima again, leaving two dead and 94 injured and reviving memories of the quake and tsunami that crippled the same region just over a decade earlier.

It’s just after 9am in Japan and the country is waking up in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake of 7.6 magnitude.

Authorities are assessing the full extent of the damage but have confirmed that at least six people have been killed.

After multiple tremors were recorded in the Ishikawa prefecture authorities put in place a major tsunami warning, which has not been downgraded to a tsunami advisory.

Japan’s Meteorological Agency has warned residents to expect more earthquakes in the coming days and weeks.