Aftershocks jolted the west coast of central Japan today after a strong earthquake yesterday killed one person and injured nearly 200.
Yesterday morning's 6.9-magnitude quake, which struck the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, about 300 kilometres west of Tokyo, destroyed houses, buckled roads, triggered landslides and cut off water and electricity supplies to thousands of homes.
A 5.3-magnitude tremor, one of more than 175 aftershocks, struck early this morning, and a 4.8 magnitude quake jolted the area in mid afternoon, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. Officials warned that more could occur.
About 2,600 people spent the night in evacuation shelters and many other residents slept in their cars.
The government's disaster agency put the total number of damaged houses at 564 and public broadcaster NHK said more than 10,000 households lacked running water.