The earthquake hit the center west of the country and was followed by about 50 aftershocks. Authorities now fear landslides.
Authorities are assessing the damage this Saturday the day after the powerful earthquake that left one dead and 29 injured in central Japan, and was followed by more than fifty aftershocks.
The magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred at 2:42 p.m. local time (7:42 a.m. French time) in Ishikawa Prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). She initially estimated the magnitude at 6.3.
This Saturday morning, at least 55 aftershocks had been recorded since the initial tremor, according to the same source, which also warned of the risk of landslides in the region.
Two people rescued
At least 23 people were injured, the national crisis management agency said in a statement on Saturday.
“Our staff are assessing the damage caused by the earthquake,” an official from Suzu city in Ishikawa prefecture, which was hardest hit, told AFP.
Two people trapped in a destroyed building were rescued, he added, and about fifty people were given emergency accommodation in schools and the town hall.
On Friday, Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told the media that the death toll was one, adding that the collapse of several buildings had been reported. The victim died after falling from a ladder in Suzu, on the Sea of Japan coast, according to a crisis management official there.
A sagging mountain
NHK footage showed destroyed or damaged wooden houses, with shattered windows and battered roofs. You could also see a sagging mountain section.
The earthquake reached in places the level 6+ on the Japanese Shindo scale which has 7. The American institute of geological studies USGS for its part estimated the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.2 and located it slightly off the coast, while the Japanese agency placed the epicenter on dry land.
The city of Suzu is on the Noto Peninsula, hit in 2007 by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that injured hundreds and damaged more than 200 buildings.
