Shawdesh desk:

Aftershocks shook Japan a day after a powerful earthquake left at least one person dead, with officials assessing damage Saturday from the jolt that destroyed several buildings.

The 6.5 magnitude quake hit the central Ishikawa region mid-afternoon on Friday at a depth of 12 kilometres (seven miles), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Around 55 aftershocks, some of them strong, had occurred by Saturday morning, the agency said, as it warned that heavy rain could trigger landslides in the area.

At least 23 people had been injured, Japan’s disaster management agency said Saturday.

“Our staff are out checking damage from the quake,” an official from Suzu in Ishikawa prefecture, the hardest-hit city, told AFP.

Two people trapped inside destroyed buildings were rescued, he said, and around 50 people had moved to evacuation centres set up at schools and the city hall.

TV footage showed a grocery shop strewn with broken wine bottles and other products that had fallen from shelves.

Some residents were seen clearing rubble in the rain after their wooden houses were partially destroyed.