The number of people confirmed dead following the earthquakes in Japan has reached 126 (Picture: AP/AFP/GETTY)
The death toll from a series of major earthquakes in Japan has hit 126, as rescuers continue to pull survivors from the rubble.
Among he dead is a five-year-old boy who had boiling water spilled on him when 7.6 magnitude tremors started on the west coast of the country on Monday.
He was recovering but his condition suddenly deteriorated and he died on Friday, according to authorities in Ishikawa, the hardest-hit region
Rescuers continue to pull people out of collapsed homes, with one man freed after 72 hours.
But efforts have been hampered by several aftershocks threatening to cause further damage.
There are particular fears that roads, already cracked, could collapse, with the risk increased by rain and snow expected overnight and Sunday.
Wajima city has seen the highest death toll at 69, followed by Suzu with 38. More than 500 people were injured, at least 27 of them seriously.
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A man looking for members of his family walks in front of a fallen house in the city of Anamizu (Picture: Kyodo News via AP)
Destroyed houses along the coast in Suzu, Ishikawa prefecture on Tuesday (Picture: Kyodo News via AP)
It’s thought more than 200 people are currently missing.
The earthquakes have caused a massive fire in the town of Wajima, as well as landslides and other fires in the region.
The earthquake research institute at the University of Tokyo said the coastline in western Japan had moved by up to 820ft towards the sea in some areas.
In an unusual gesture from North Korea, leader Kim Jong-un sent a message of condolence to Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida, the official Korean Central News Agency reports.
Firefighters walk through debris on Friday after a fire in Wajima in the Noto peninsula, northwest of Tokyo (Picture: AP)
Debris on a road in Shiromaru, Ishikawa prefecture on January 5 (Picture: Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images)
Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Japan was grateful for all the messages they’d received, including the one from Mr Kim.
He said the last time Japan received a message of condolence in response to a disaster was almost 30 years ago in 1995.
Japan will receive $100,000 (£78,600) in aid from the US it was announced yesterday, with more help promised.
Power is gradually being restored along the coastline, but water supplies are still short, not helped by the fact emergency water systems have also been damaged.
Police officers search for survivors in Wajima, Japan (Picture: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)
A former shopping centre pictured in the aftermath of the fire in Wajima (Picture: AP/Photo/Hiro Komae)
Thousands of troops have been flying and trucking in water, food and medicine to the more than 30,000 people who have lost their homes and sought shelter in auditoriums, schools and other facilities.
On Tuesday, a coast guard plane about to fly aid to the disaster-hit region collided with a passenger plane on the runway at a Tokyo airport.
Five of the six people on the coast guard plane died, while all 379 peopleonboard the passenger plane incredibly survived, despite being engulfed in a massive fire.
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