A strong earthquake killed one person and injured more than 170 in Japan yesterday, demolishing houses, buckling roads, triggering landslides and cutting off water supplies to thousands of homes.

More than 1,300 people evacuated to shelters after 44 houses collapsed and some 200 others, mostly wooden with heavy tile roofs, were seriously damaged by the 6.9 magnitude earthquake, which struck at 9:42 am (0042 GMT), officials and media said.

The focus of the quake - which was also felt in Tokyo - was 11 km below the seabed off the Noto peninsula in Ishikawa prefecture, about 300 km west of Tokyo.

The mountainous peninsula in central Japan is known for its hot spring resorts.

More than 100 aftershocks jolted the area, including one with a magnitude of 5.3 more than eight hours after the first quake, which was the biggest in the area since records began in 1926. Officials warned more aftershocks could follow.

A 52-year-old woman died in Wajima, a resort and fishing town on the western side of the peninsula, after being trapped under a stone lantern that toppled in her garden.

In Nanao, a resort and fishing city with a population of around 60,000, ambulance services were flooded with calls to help people who had suffered burns and injuries.

About 40 people were being treated for mostly minor injuries in Wajima. Most were hurt from falls when the tremor struck or by being hit by falling objects, Kyodo news agency said.

Anxious residents gathered outside their homes in the town of 34,000 people, some holding children in their arms.

The Japan Meteorological Agency originally estimated the magnitude at 7.1 but later revised it to 6.9.

Some trains were halted and people were trapped in elevators. Power outages affected nearly 500 homes in the area, and more than 9,000 were left without water, public broadcaster NHK said.

Officials closed an airport on the peninsula because of cracks on the runway and halted traffic on damaged expressways, but high-speed bullet trains resumed service after being stopped for checks.

A tsunami warning issued for Ishikawa prefecture was later lifted after small tsunamis hit in some areas.

Source: China Daily/agencies