Let's bring you the latest comments from Japan's chief cabinet secretary who has just held a news conference in Tokyo following an emergency meeting held by the government.

Yoshimasa Hayashi says Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed the government to "put lives first" and to "understand the situation" of the devastation caused by the earthquake.

He says: "To the people of Japan, please be on alert that there may be earthquakes for about a week of an intensity scale of up to seven.

"To the people that live in areas where the shake was strong, please look out for evacuation information through local offices, on TV, radio, and internet and take action accordingly."

Hayashi says there are 120 "cases of people" who are waiting to be rescued and then adding "a total of 57,360 people have evacuated".

Image source, Getty Images

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his cabinet hosted a press conference earlier today.

They were seen wearing matching blue over-alls, as opposed to their usual attire of suits, to indicate that the government is fully focused on the crisis.

The death toll in Japan has risen to 48, Ishikawa's disaster headquarters have confirmed.

The number could rise further as rescue efforts continue, officials say.

Stay with us for more updates.

Jean Mackenzie
in Nanao, Ishikawa

As we get closer to the epicentre, we have come across isolated pockets of damage – single homes reduced to rubble. These tend to be old, wooden houses that have not been built to withstand such earthquakes.

We met 82-year-old Toshio Iwahama, whose wooden home had partially collapsed. He has been living alone since his wife passed away and does not know how he will pay to fix the house, which is currently unliveable.

He told us he had always feared a large earthquake, but had hoped it would not strike his town. He, like everyone we have spoken to, said that despite living through multiple earthquakes, he had never experienced tremors of this magnitude.

We are trying to get to the worst affected town of Wajima, where more than a dozen people have been killed, and we believe others are trapped in their homes. But all the roads leading in that direction appear to have ruptured.

There are huge cracks down the middle, rendering them inaccessible. This means rescue teams are also having difficulty accessing the area. We are therefore still trying to piece together the extent of the damage, and how many people have been killed and are trapped.

Image source, Reuters

The earthquake damaged 1,000 houses in the coastal town of Suzu, with the mayor, Masuhiro Izumiya, describing the aftermath as "catastrophic", according to a Reuters report.

Suzu, with just 5,000 households, is located near the epicenter of the New Year's Day quake.

The quake also damaged a temple and several of the town's graves, Japanese broadcaster NHK reports.

Aerial photos on NHK showed collapsed roofs and capsized boats in the town's port.

Many Japanese pay a visit to Shinto shrines on New Year's Day - part of a tradition known as Hatsumode.

When the earthquake struck on Monday, large crowds were gathered and watched as the buildings and trees shook.

Eyewitness footage shows the Keta Grand Shrine, one of the most prominent on the Noto peninsula, creaking loudly during the quake. Another video shows visitors crouching around the Oyama Shrine in Kanazawa, the capital of Ishikawa.

Rescuers are scrambling to pull out more survivors from collapsed buildings, hindered by badly damaged and blocked roads.

"We have to race against time to search for and rescue victims of the disaster," PM Kishida said after a disaster response meeting.

"Very extensive damage has been confirmed, including numerous casualties, building collapses and fires," he said, adding that rescuers were finding it difficult to reach the northern tip of the Noto peninsula.

Some 33,000 households braved freezing temperatures overnight due to a lack of electricity. Many cities are also without running water.

Image source, Reuters

Andy Clark from the West Midlands in the UK is visiting his wife's family in Japan and was on the coast in Toyama when the earthquake struck.

"I grabbed the sea wall to stay upright," he says. "It was a scary afternoon and evening."

Clark says they ran to a school roof to to look at the level of the sea.

He and his wife are visiting Japan for New Year, and had planned to go snowboarding. It was difficult to contact family members as their phones were not working in Japan, he says.

"But amazingly," he adds, "the emergency system does work abroad as my phone pinged the earthquake/tsunami warning to me".

"It is a scary sound when it is very real," he says.

Andy shared an image of the emergency alerts he received, which you can see below.

He says now "everyone is a little on edge but looking after each other", and aftershocks have made it "hard to get some sleep".

Image source, Andy Clark

Yvette Tan
Live editor

It's now 14:45 in Japan and 13:45 here in Singapore - if you're just joining us here are the latest news lines:

• Local officials in Ishikawa prefecture have confirmed that at least 30 people have died
• The region was the epicentre of the 7.6-magnitude earthquake, which struck on Monday
• Thousands of rescue workers have now been dispatched and are combing the area for survivors
• But blocked roads, broken cars and destroyed houses are hindering their path
• The country's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has described the search as a "battle against time"
• Most rail services, ferries and flights into the area have been suspended

Stay with me and my colleague Tiffanie Turnbull in Sydney as we bring you the latest.

In the city of Wajima, where pictures today have shown smouldering rubble and toppled houses, 15 people are confirmed to have died.

In Suzu, on the tip of the Noto Peninsula, 6 people have died, while further south in Nanao five people are dead.

The toll - provided by the local Ishikawa Prefecture government - also includes:

• one person in Hakui
• two people in the town of Anamizu
• one in the town of Shika

According to Ishikawa prefecture officials, at least 30 people have now been confirmed dead.

The region was the epicentre of Monday's 7.6-magnitude earthquake.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

We're seeing pictures today in the aftermath of yesterday's earthquake - cars, houses and streets have been left destroyed, with rescue workers saying they have been hindered by blocked roads.

One 74-year-old resident of Nanao city told news outlet Reuters that she had never experienced a quake of such intensity.

"I tried to hold the TV set to keep it from toppling over, but I could not even keep myself from swaying violently from side to side," said Nobuko Sugimori.

With roads cut across the Noto region, about 500 people have been stranded at the airport Wajima city, local media have reported.

Citing the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, they say travellers, local residents, and staff sheltered in rental cars and tour buses in the car park.

There are no injuries, but there has been damage to the airport and runways, the reports say.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
BBC News, Taipei

Japan is no stranger to earthquakes - the island nation experiences about 1,500 each year.

It's been nearly 13 years since the devastating earthquake and tsunami that triggered an accident at a nuclear plant in Fukushima.

But on Monday, as shaking began in Ishikawa and the tsunami alarms began sounding - it brought back memories.

And yet this most recent quake is also a remarkable story of Japan's success.

There has been widespread destruction of roads and bridges. It unleashed massive landslides. But the vast majority of buildings are still standing.

Read more here.

Essential services have been cut in many of the affected areas, complicating rescue and recovery efforts.

There are also power and water outages at 19 medical facilities across three prefectures, Japan's Kyodo news agency has reported, citing the Health Ministry.

Some of the hospitals are considering transferring patients, their report said.

Barnie Davis was inside his home when the earthquake struck on Monday.

He shared footage with the BBC - which shows books falling off a shelf, picture frames banging against the wall, and a refrigerator door swinging open - with food tumbling out.

Davis, who can be seen taking shelter near his sofa, is an English teacher based in the city of Kanazawa, around 150km (93 miles) from the earthquake's epicentere.

Yuko Kato
Digital editor, BBC News Japan, Tokyo

Image source, Getty Images

I went to bed last night after hearing the news that the Emperor's annual palace event had been cancelled - usually the family appears in front of enthusiastic crowds to smile and wave - our equivalent of the "Balcony appearance". The last time they cancelled this New Year appearance was in 2022, and that was due to the pandemic. The symbolism of the cancellation was grave and acute.

And then I woke up to Prime Minister Kishida giving a press conference in blue work fatigues - a familiar sight here in times like these.

All this feels like a recurrence of March 2011, but thankfully the morning news also told me that the tsunami warning had been downgraded to an advisory.

Yet, the tremors in the Ishikawa area continue with yet another, this time M5.6, at 10.17am. According to Japan's Meteorological Agency, there have been 147 tremors of varying degrees ever since the initial M7.6 jolt at 4.10pm yesterday. Basically, the ground in the area has been constantly shaking.

And the casualty figures are gradually starting to grow, from single to double digits, as the rescue picks up pace, with morning images showing us the wreckage of so many houses and roads.

The public broadcaster NHK is continuing its blanket coverage, showing residents speak of the bitter cold, lack of sleep, lack of electricity and water, and just how terrifying and unnerving everything is, how their lives were upended on New Year's day itself, a day that is supposed to be, arguably, the biggest holiday in Japan.

At least 13 people have now been confirmed dead, according to local media reports.

All of the deaths are in Ishikawa prefecture, on Japan's northwest coast, which was the epicentre of Monday's quake.

Around 1,000 members of Japan's Self-Defence Forces or SDF - the country's equivalent to an army - are in the middle of search and rescue efforts in quake-hit areas, Japan's Prime minister Fumio Kishida has said.

With the tsunami warning lifted, Mr Kishida added, they would now try and establish sea routes to reach the isolated parts of the northern Noto peninsula, where the earthquake struck.