<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Japanese rescuers scrambled to search for survivors Wednesday as authorities warned of landslides and heavy rain after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 62 people.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>The 7.5 magnitude quake on January 1 that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a meter high, sparked a major fire and tore apart roads.</div><div><br></div><div>The Noto Peninsula of the prefecture was most severely hit, with several hundred buildings ravaged by fire and houses flattened.</div><div><br></div><div>The regional government announced late Tuesday that 55 people had been confirmed dead and 22 severely injured.</div><div><br></div><div>But the toll was expected to climb as rescuers battle aftershocks and poor weather to comb through rubble.</div><div><br></div><div>More than 31,800 people were in shelters, they added.</div><div><br></div><div>Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government was due to hold a meeting of an emergency task force Wednesday morning to discuss responses.</div><div><br></div><div>Kishida reiterated Tuesday night that “it’s a race against time” given how many people may have been caught in the collapsed buildings, according to public broadcaster NHK.</div><div><br></div><div>The operation was given extra urgency as the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a heavy rain warning for Noto.</div><div><br></div><div>“Be on the lookout for landslides until the evening of Wednesday,” the agency said.</div><div><br></div><div>In the coastal city of Suzu, mayor Masuhiro Izumiya said there were “almost no houses standing.”</div><div><br></div><div>“About 90 percent of the houses (in the town) are completely or almost completely destroyed... the situation is really catastrophic,” he said according to broadcaster TBS.</div><div><br></div><div>A woman at a shelter in the town of Shika told TV Asahi that she “hasn’t been able to sleep” due to aftershocks.</div><div><br></div><div>“I’ve been scared because we don’t know when the next quake will hit,” she said.</div><div><br></div><div>Nearly 34,000 households were still without power in Ishikawa prefecture, the local utility said.</div><div><br></div><div>Many cities were without running water.</div><div><br></div><div>Shinkansen bullet trains and highways have resumed operations after several thousand people were stranded, some for almost 24 hours.</div><div>The US Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 7.5, while the JMA measured it at 7.6, triggering a major tsunami warning.</div><div><br></div><div>The powerful quake was one of more than 210 to shake the region through Tuesday evening, the JMA said.</div><div><br></div><div>Japan lifted all tsunami warnings after waves at least 1.2 meters (four feet) high hit the city of Wajima and a series of smaller tsunamis were reported elsewhere.</div><div><br></div><div>Japan experiences hundreds of earthquakes every year and the vast majority cause no damage.</div><div><br></div><div>The number of earthquakes in the Noto Peninsula region has been steadily increasing since 2018, a Japanese government report said last year.</div><div><br></div><div>The country is haunted by a massive 9.0 magnitude undersea quake off northeastern Japan in 2011 which triggered a tsunami that left around 18,500 people dead or missing.</div><div><br></div><div>It also swamped the Fukushima atomic plant, causing one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>