Kanazawa: Over 30,000 houses in Ishikawa Prefecture were damaged by the Noto Peninsula earthquake in central Japan on Jan. 1, the prefectural government said Saturday.

According to the Ishikawa government in the region, the total number of houses that suffered damage from the 7.6-magnitude quake stood at 31,670 as of 2 p.m.

The prefecture said that 870 houses were found to have been completely or partially destroyed or have suffered other damage in the heavily-hit Ishikawa city of Wajima. Previously, Ishikawa was unable to give any specific number.

As for Suzu, another hard-hit city, the prefecture remained unable to say how many houses were damaged.

Fatalities in the quake numbered 232, unchanged from Friday. The number of people still missing stood unchanged at 22.

Search and rescue work is going on in many places. In Suzu, some 500 workers from four other prefectures were involved in such operations.

JIJI Press