Aftershocks shake Japan after one person was killed in an earthquake and homes were destroyed

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TOKYO: Aftershocks rocked Japan a day after a powerful earthquake killed at least one person, as officials estimated damage from the tremor that destroyed several buildings on Saturday, as the 6.5-magnitude quake hit the central Ishikawa district mid-afternoon Friday at a depth of 12. kilometers (seven miles), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. About 55 aftershocks, some strong, had occurred by Saturday morning, the agency said, warning that heavy rain could trigger landslides in the area. “Our staff are out to inspect the damage caused by the earthquake,” the Japan Disaster Management Agency said on Saturday. About 50 people moved to evacuation centers set up at schools and the city hall, and television footage showed a grocery store full of broken wine bottles and other products that fell from shelves, and some residents were seen clearing rubble in the rain. The wooden houses were partially destroyed. “I asked a carpenter for a temporary repair of the house, and the house is now covered with a blue canvas sheet to protect it from rainwater,” a man told public broadcaster NHK. The Japanese Shindo Seismic Scale, which has a maximum of seven. Earthquakes are common in Japan, which sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches across Southeast Asia and across the Pacific Basin. The state has strict building regulations aimed at ensuring buildings can withstand powerful earthquakes and routinely conducts emergency drills to prepare for a major shock. A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck a fishing village in the same area in 2007, injuring hundreds and damaging more than 200 buildings on the Noto Peninsula – a scenic area on the Sea of ​​Japan coast. “I express my heartfelt condolences to the person who died and extend my sympathy to those affected by the disaster,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who returned from a tour of four African countries and Singapore, said on Friday. “The government will continue to take action with a sense of urgency while communicating closely with (officials) at the site,” Kishida told reporters. The earthquake off the northeast of the country in March 2011, which triggered a tsunami that left about 18,500 people dead or missing.

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