Roundup: Aftershocks continue to jolt central Japan

Frequent aftershocks continued to jolt central Japan through Monday, where a major earthquake on Sunday morning killed one and injured around 214 in prefectures of Ishikawa, Toyama and Niigata.

The number of aftershocks in the area has reached over 200 by late Monday, with their intensity varying from 1 to 4 on the Japanese scale, according to Japan Meteorological Agency. Aftershocks were registered several times per hour.

An aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 rocked the area at 2:46 p.m.(0546 GMT). It registered lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in the town of Shika in Ishikawa prefecture, the agency said.

At 7:16 a.m. (2216 GMT, Sunday), an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 hit Ishikawa and its vicinity, the agency said. No tsunami warning was issued over the two relative strong aftershocks.

The weather service said Monday that there is a 70 percent probability that aftershocks with a magnitude 5 or higher will occur in the next three days and a 10 percent probability for aftershocks with a magnitude 6 or higher, following the powerful quake with a magnitude of 6.9 which caught the area at 9:42 a.m. ( 0042 GMT) Sunday.

Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe said in Tokyo that he plans to designate the region as a disaster relief area that would make it eligible for a wide range of financial support from the state.

Around 600 houses were destroyed or severely damaged in the quake-hit area, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. About 2,600 people have been evacuated to shelters nearby in Ishikawa Prefecture alone, local government said.

In the most-hard hit Wajimi city of Ishikawa prefecture, Koichi Yikeue, an officer from the city's firefighter department told Xinhua that one person was killed, 8 people were severely injured and 49 were slightly injured in the city as to Sunday night. A 52- year-old woman was crushed by a stone lantern that collapsed in her garden after the earthquake.

There has been no report of death or injuries of Chinese citizens in Wajima, local rescue officers told Xinhua on Monday afternoon. There are about 50 Chinese citizens living in Wajima.

Water supplies were cut to around 5,500 households in Wajima.

Meanwhile, Ishikawa Prefecture resumed the operations of Noto airport in Wajima, which was closed since the Sunday's quake.

Source: Xinhua