Residents of the Japanese region hit by a large earthquake on January 1 should stay alert for further major tremors, authorities say.
There is a 10 to 20 percent chance of another similar-sized earthquake striking within the next week, a Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) official told a Tokyo news conference.
The New Year’s Day quake that hit the Noto peninsula had a preliminary magnitude of 7.6. The shaking it caused measured a 7 on the Japanese shindo scale, the highest possible value.
JMA officials have so far measured 149 quakes in the region since 4:00pm.
An eyewitness captured the moment an earthquake struck Japan’s west coast on Monday, vigorously rattling their vehicle and leaving them in a state of panic.
Filmed from Toyama, other stationary vehicles nearby are seen shaking as the tremor jolts the city.
Japan on Tuesday struggled to assess the full extent of damage, killing at least eight people, wrecking buildings and roads and knocking out power to swathes of homes in freezing temperatures.
