Over 12,000 people are in evacuation centres in northwest Japan today after an earthquake yesterday.
The quake killed nine people, injured 1,000 and triggered a leak of contaminated water from a nuclear plant. As aftershocks continued, forecasts for wet weather raised fears of mudslides that could add to the devastation.
Officials inspect the site of a collapsed road caused by an earthquake in Nagaoka, northern Japan
A small fire and a leak of contaminated water at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant - the world's largest - reignited fears about nuclear safety.
Water, gas and electricity supplies were cut by the 6.8 magnitude quake that hit Niigata prefecture yesterday, which also caused a small radiation leak and fire at the world's biggest nuclear plant.
With more than 300 homes destroyed in Kashiwazaki alone, it was unclear when people could go home.
The navy shipped in emergency rations, convenience stores and supermarkets gave out rice balls and bottled water, and soldiers made rice balls and distributed them at schools and other evacuation centres.
The quake halted gas service to about 35,000 homes and disrupted the water supply to all of Kashiwazaki, a city with a population of around 95,000 whose economy relies on nuclear power generation and fishing.
Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes.