Updated on Jan 17, at 3.17 p.m.

At least 232 people have been confirmed dead in the devastating 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture on Jan 1, local officials said today.

According to the prefectural government, the death toll was updated this morning after an additional 10 casualties was reported by the city of Wajima, one of the worst-hit by the massive temblor, as per news reports.

Local authorities said these fatalities were discovered in the vicinity of the Wajima Morning Market, a popular tourist spot that suffered extensive damage in the earthquake-triggered fires immediately following the seismic event.

Since last week, the Wajima Morning Market has been the focus of large-scale search and rescue operations.

The number of individuals unaccounted for has decreased by one, leaving Wajima city with 17 missing persons and Suzu city with four, totaling 21 people.

According to local media reports, the damage to residences has reached a staggering 22,374 confirmed cases, and there is a high likelihood that the number of affected buildings will significantly increase as further assessments are conducted.

In cities of Wajima and Suzu, the extent of the damage is still described as “numerous”, with the actual situation remaining unclear, reported a national news agency.

Updated on Jan 13, at 4.35 p.m.

A recent research found the powerful Jan 1 earthquake that rocked central Japan has caused ground upheavals as high as about 4 metres, as per media reports on today.

A group of researchers made the announcement after surveying areas around Kaiso Port in the hardest-hit city of Wajima, which lies in the northern part of the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, public broadcaster NHK reported.

A ground upheaval of about 4 metres has been confirmed by comparing water levels before and after the massive earthquake that registered a maximum intensity of 7 on the country’s seismic scale, said NHK.

Group leader Masanobu Shishikura of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology said four metre ground upheavals are quite rare, noting that the Noto Peninsula was formed by powerful quakes, but it only occurs on this scale once every several thousand years.

As of today, the death toll stood at 215, while a total of 26 people remained unaccounted for, according to local authorities.

Updated on Jan 9, at 8.30 p.m.

The death toll from a devastating 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture on Jan 1, increased to 202 today, local authorities said.

Of the deaths, 81 had been confirmed in Wajima City, 71 in Suzu City, 18 in Anamizu Town, five in Nanao City, two each in the towns of Noto and Shika, and one in Hakui City,NHK said.

Meanwhile, at least 565 people in Ishikawa suffered injuries due to the quakes, while more than 320 others remain unaccounted for, the public broadcaster said.

As of today, the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture has recorded 1,248 tremors rated at least 1 on the country’s seven-point seismic intensity scale since the Jan 1 earthquake, according to NHK.

Updated on Jan 8, at 1 p.m.

The death toll from a devastating 7.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Japan’s Ishikawa prefecture on Jan 1, increased to 161 as of today, local authorities said.

Meanwhile, efforts are underway to find at least 103 people who are currently unaccounted for, as per news reports.

Of the deaths, 70 have been confirmed in both Wajima and Suzu cities, 11 in Anamizu Town, five in Nanao City, two each in the towns of Noto and Shika, and one in Hakui City, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.

A total of 565 people were also injured as a result of the massive temblor and the continued aftershocks.

Bad weather however, is hampering rescuers, with heavy rain and snow triggering warnings of landslides and building collapses.

A cold air mass has been bringing snow to Ishikawa prefecture and other parts of the Hokuriku region as well as Niigata prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

As of 6 a.m. today local time (2.30 a.m. IST), snow accumulation in Ishikawa prefecture had reached 13 cm in Suzu, 11 cm in Nanao and 9 cm in Wajima.

More than 2,000 people were reportedly still cut off due to massive damage to roads, while several others are living in emergency shelters.

Updated on Jan 3, at 12.49 p.m.

Amid continued aftershocks and reports of additional damages, the death toll due to a series of powerful earthquakes that struck the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa earlier this week, increased to 64 today, with search and rescue efforts currently underway.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), a 5.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the Noto Peninsula at 10:54 a.m. (7.24 a.m. IST) on Jan 3 at a depth of 10 km, as per reports.

On Jan 2 at 5:13 p.m (1.43 p.m. IST), the JMA said a 4.6-magnitude earthquake struck off the Noto Peninsula at a depth of 10 km, measuring upper 5.

Since the massive earthquakes, with the strongest one measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, occurred on Jan 1, the region has witnessed at least 155 temblors.

The JMA has also lifted all tsunami advisories along the Sea of Japan following the quake, but weather officials warned that strong aftershocks may occur in the week, especially over the next two to three days.

Meanwhile, a total of 57,360 people evacuated in 955 locations across quake-affected Ishikawa and Niigata prefectures, chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told media persons.

Updated on Jan 2, at 5.40 p.m.

At least 48 people have died after a series of powerful earthquakes, with the major one measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, hit central Japan and the surrounding areas, causing homes to collapse and triggered tsunami warnings, with search operations currently underway for possible survivors trapped underneath the rubble. 

According to national broadcaster NHK, injuries were also reported in the prefectures of Ishikawa, Niigata, Fukui, Toyama, and Gifu, as per reports.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a press briefing today that relief efforts are being hampered by obstructions on the roads.

“This is also making it difficult to send heavy machinery. We’re thinking about ways to secure routes and using ships could be one option,” the prime minister was quoted by NHK as saying.

At the same briefing, chief cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi added that Kishida instructed the government to “put lives first” and to “understand the situation” of the devastation caused by the earthquake, as per reports.

Hayashi says there are 120 “cases of people” who are waiting to be rescued and then adds “a total of 57,360 people have evacuated”.

Casualties reported from various regions

According to Japan’s national news agency Kyodo, a series of building collapses and fires killed at least 30 people in the worst-hit Ishikawa prefecture, as per reports.

Ishikawa was the epicentre of Jan 1’s 7.6-magnitude earthquake.

In Suzu, on the tip of the Noto Peninsula, six people have died, while further south in Nanao five others also lost their lives.

Updated on Jan 2, at 11.50 a.m.

The number of people who have died as a result of a series of strong earthquakes, with major ones measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, hit central Japan and the surrounding areas to 30 as search operations continued for survivors, according to Japan's national news agency. 

On Jan 1, the earthquakes struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture at a shallow depth. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has officially named it the 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.

Since Jan 1, Japan has been hit by at least 155 quakes. 

According to the Wajima city authority, the victims included a male teenager.

A large-scale fire broke out around the famous tourist spot Wajima morning market, engulfing approximately 200 buildings. 

The city also experienced building collapses, with 14 cases of people being buried.

As more damage reports and information about people trapped continued to come in regarding other municipalities, injuries were reported in Niigata, Toyama, Fukui, and Gifu prefectures due to collapsed or damaged buildings.

Calling the rescue of those impacted by the earthquakes a battle against time, prime minister Fumio Kishida said today that the government has already dispatched a number of self-defence force troops to the impacted areas and will continue to provide assistance.

Currently, some 45,700 households are without power in Ishikawa prefecture, according to the Hokuriku Electric Power company today.

Tsunami warnings

Meanwhile, all tsunami advisories in Japan have been removed, the JMA said in its latest update this morning.

Following the temblors, a major tsunami warning was issued by the Agency for the Noto region, urging people to evacuate immediately.

Tsunami warnings were also in place for Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa prefectures. 

The first waves reportedly hit the coast just over 10 minutes later after the earthquake struck.

Tsunami waves of up to 4 feet hit a number of areas along the country's western coast. 

Trains resume journey

Japan’s public broadcaster said that four bullet trains, whose high-speed journeys were halted on Jan 1, have now resumed service to their destinations, according to media reports. 

The high-speed trains had been stranded between the central cities of Toyama and Kanazawa.

After being stationary for more than 11 hours, two trains arrived at the Toyama station at 4 a.m. today, officials said. 

Another two trains travelling in the opposite direction arrived at the Kanazawa station in Ishikawa prefecture.

Nearly 1,400 passengers had been stranded inside the high-speed trains, said the Japanese broadcaster, citing Japan Railways West.

Japan and earthquakes

Japan is one of the most seismically active nations on Earth, owing to its location on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where many tectonic plates meet. 

The 9.0-magnitude earthquake which hit Japan in 2011 resulted in a tsunami - which tore through the country's north-eastern coastal communities, killing almost 18,000 people and displacing tens of thousands.

Those tsunami waves triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima power plant, causing the most serious nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

(Source: IANS)

-Edited for style

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