Japan quake toll rises to 55

A powerful earthquake that hit Japan on New Year's Day killed at least 55 people, with rescue teams struggling in freezing temperatures yesterday to reach isolated areas where many people are feared trapped under toppled buildings.

In Suzu, a coastal town of just over 5,000 households near the quake's epicentre, 90 percent of houses may have been destroyed, according to its mayor Masuhiro Izumiya. "The situation is catastrophic," he said.

The quake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.6 struck on Monday afternoon, prompting people in western coastal areas to flee to higher ground as tsunami waves swept cars and houses into the water.

Around 200 tremors have been detected since the quake first hit on Monday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, which warned more strong shocks could hit in the coming days.

A Coast Guard aircraft en route to deliver aid to the quake-hit region collided with a commercial airplane in Tokyo's Haneda airport yesterday, killing five Coast Guard crew while all 379 on board the Japan Airlines flight miraculously escaped a fire.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the extent of the quake damage was becoming "increasingly clear" more than 24 hours after the quake struck on the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture.

"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."

Kishida said some 3,000 rescuers were finding it difficult to reach the northern tip of the peninsula where helicopter surveys had discovered many fires and widespread damage to buildings and infrastructure. There are around 120 cases of people awaiting rescue, his government spokesperson said.

Situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, and each year experiences up to 2,000 quakes that can be felt.

Many rail services and flights into the quake area have been suspended. More than 500 people were stranded at Noto's airport which closed due to cracks in its runway and access road and damage to its terminal building.

The Japanese government ordered about 100,000 people to evacuate their homes on Monday night, sending them to sports halls and school gymnasiums, commonly used as evacuation centres in emergencies.

Almost half of those evacuated had returned to their homes yesterday after authorities lifted tsunami warnings.