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A powerful earthquake<\/a> that hit Japan on New Year\u2019s Day killed at least 48 people, with rescue teams struggling in freezing temperatures on Tuesday to reach isolated areas where many people are feared trapped under toppled buildings.<\/p>\n In Suzu, a coastal town of just over 5,000 households near the quake\u2019s epicentre, 90 per cent of houses may have been destroyed, according to its mayor Masuhiro Izumiya.<\/p>\n \u201cThe situation is catastrophic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Around 200 tremors were 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.<\/p>\n A Coast Guard aircraft en route to deliver aid to the quake-hit region collided with a commercial aeroplane in Tokyo\u2019s Haneda airport on Tuesday, killing five Coast Guard crew while all 379 on board the Japan Airlines flight miraculously escaped a fire.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the extent of the quake damage was becoming \u201cincreasingly clear\u201d more than 24 hours after the quake struck on the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n There are around 120 cases of people awaiting rescue, his government spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Situated on the \u201cRing of Fire\u201d arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20 per cent of the world\u2019s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, and each year experiences up to 2,000 quakes that can be felt.<\/p>\n Many rail services and flights into the area have been suspended. More than 500 people were stranded at Noto\u2019s airport which closed due to cracks in its runway and access road and damage to its terminal building.<\/p>\n Authorities have confirmed 48 deaths, all in Ishikawa prefecture, making it Japan\u2019s deadliest earthquake since 2016.<\/p>\n Many of those killed are in Suzu and Wajima, another city on the remote northern tip of the Noto peninsula.<\/p>\n Scores more have been injured and authorities were battling blazes in several cities on Tuesday and hauling people from collapsed buildings.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never experienced a quake that powerful,\u201d said Wajima resident Shoichi Kobayashi, 71, who was at home having a celebratory New Year\u2019s meal with his wife and son when the quake struck, sending furniture flying across the dining room.<\/p>\n \u201cEven the aftershocks made it difficult to stand up straight,\u201d he said, adding his family was sleeping in the car because it could not return to its badly damaged home.<\/p>\n Fujiko Ueno, a 73-year-old resident of Nanao city in Ishikawa, said nearly 20 people were in her house for a New Year celebration when the quake struck, splintering the walls which came crashing down on a parked car. \u201cIt all happened in the blink of an eye,\u201d she said, standing next to the crushed car on a road littered with debris and mud that oozed out from cracks in the surface.<\/p>\n Several world leaders sent condolence messages with President Joe Biden saying in a statement the United States was ready to provide any necessary help to Japan.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Almost half of those evacuated had returned to their homes on Tuesday after authorities lifted tsunami warnings.<\/p>\n But around 33,000 households remained without power in Ishikawa prefecture after a night when temperatures dropped below freezing. Nearly 20,000 homes have no water supply.<\/p>\n The quake also comes at a sensitive time for Japan\u2019s nuclear industry, which has faced fierce opposition from locals since a 2011 earthquake and tsunami<\/a> triggered nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima on the eastern coast. Whole towns were devastated and nearly 20,000 people were killed.<\/p>\nWrecked homes<\/h2>\n
\nMiraculously, no one was hurt.<\/p>\nNuclear plants<\/h2>\n