New Year's Day quake toll 55 in Japan

A powerful earthquake that hit Japan on New Year's Day killed at least 55 people, with rescue teams struggling in freezing temperatures on Tuesday to reach isolated areas where many people are feared trapped under toppled buildings, reports Reuters.
In Suzu, a coastal town of just over 5,000 households near the quake's epicentre, 90 percent of houses may have been destroyed, according to its mayor Masuhiro Izumiya.
"The situation is catastrophic," he said.
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.
Around 200 tremors have been 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.
A Coast Guard aircraft enroute to deliver aid to the quake-hit region collided with a commercial airplane in Tokyo's Haneda airport on Tuesday, killing five Coast Guard crew while all 379 on board the Japan Airlines flight miraculously escaped a fire.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the extent of the quake damage was becoming "increasingly clear" more than 24 hours after the quake struck on the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture.
"The 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."
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. There are around 120 cases of people awaiting rescue, his government spokesperson said.
Situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20% of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, and each year experiences up to 2,000 quakes that can be felt.
Many rail services and flights into the area have been suspended. More than 500 people were stranded at Noto's airport which closed due to cracks in its runway and access road and damage to its terminal building.
Authorities have confirmed 48 deaths, all in Ishikawa prefecture, making it Japan's deadliest earthquake since 2016.
Many of those killed are in Suzu and Wajima, another city on the remote northern tip of the Noto peninsula.
Scores more have been injured and authorities were battling blazes in several cities on Tuesday and hauling people from collapsed buildings.
"I've never experienced a quake that powerful," said Wajima resident Shoichi Kobayashi, 71, who was at home having a celebratory New Year's meal with his wife and son when the quake struck, sending furniture flying across the dining room.
"Even the aftershocks made it difficult to stand up straight," he said, adding his family were sleeping in their car because they could not return to their badly damaged home.
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.
Miraculously, no one was hurt.
"It all happened in the blink of an eye," she said, standing next to the crushed car on a road littered with debris and mud that oozed out from cracks in the surface.
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.
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.
Almost half of those evacuated had returned to their homes on Tuesday after authorities lifted tsunami warnings.