WAJIMA (Japan) :
A SERIES of powerful earthquakes that hit western Japan
have left at least 55 people dead
and damaged thousands of
buildings, vehicles and boats.
Officials warned on Tuesday
that more quakes could lie
ahead.
Aftershocks continued to
shake Ishikawa prefecture and
nearby areas a day after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed
the area. Damage was so great
that it could not immediately
be assessed. Japanese media
reports said tens of thousands
of homes were destroyed.
Government spokesperson
Yoshimasa Hayashi said 17
people were seriously injured
and gave a slightly lower death toll, saying he was aware of
the prefecture’s tally.
Water, power and cell
phone service were still down
in some areas. Residents
expressed sorrow about their
uncertain futures.
“It’s not just that it’s a mess.
The wall has collapsed, and
you can see through to the
next room. I don’t think we
can live here anymore,” Miki
Kobayashi, an Ishikawa resident, said as she swept
around her house.
The house was also damaged in a 2007 quake, she
said.
Although casualty numbers continued to climb
gradually, the prompt public warnings, relayed on
broadcasts and phones, and
the quick response from the
general public and officials
appeared to have limited
some of the damage.
Toshitaka Katada, a
University of Tokyo professor specializing in disasters,
said people were prepared
because the area had been
hit by quakes in recent years.
They had evacuation plans
and emergency supplies in
stock.
“There is probably no people on earth other than
Japanese who are so disaster-ready,” he told The
Associated Press.
Japan is frequently hit by
earthquakes because of its
location along the “Ring of
Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and
fault lines in the Pacific Basin.