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Japan is counting the cost of an earthquake on New Year's Day, which struck Ishikawa prefecture on the country's main island of Honshu. The full scale of the effects is becoming clearer as the hours pass - it's currently just after 3pm in Japan, so around 24 hours after the initial quake.

So far there have been over a hundred aftershocks, with thousands of people spending the night in evacuation centres and at least 30 people confirmed dead. The Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says there's been extensive damage and has called on army personnel to get to the affected areas by any means, but he says damage to infrastructure has been hampering rescue efforts.

Tokyo-based reporter and researcher, Will Fee, told Newsday there is a real urgency to the rescue efforts.

“It’s now a race against time to free those who remain trapped. Some 10,000 members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces have been mobilised… but rescue efforts have been hampered with damage to roads."

"There have been images broadcast over the last two days across state media showing really dramatic scenes of rivers breaking their banks, statutes falling over and people trapped in offices unable to stand up, unable to walk."

(Pic: Burnt down residential and commercial area site following an earthquake in Wajima, central Japan; Credit: Reuters)

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