Quake death toll in central Japan rises to 78, 72-hour window closing

With time running out to find survivors before the crucial 72-hour window closes following the magnitude-7.6 quake, after which the victim survival rate drops sharply, many are also believed to be trapped under rubble in the hard-hit coastal city of Wajima where a major marketplace caught fire and burned down.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called for an "all-out effort" to save as many lives as possible during the first 72 hours of the disaster.

The government plans to allocate roughly 4 billion yen ($28 million) from reserve funds to beef up its response while doubling the number of Self-Defense Forces members engaging in rescue operations and other efforts to 4,600, Kishida said.

According to Ishikawa Prefecture, the whereabouts of a total of 51 people remained unknown as of 11 a.m. Thursday.

In Wajima and the adjacent city of Suzu, rescue efforts have been hampered by damaged roads and disruption to communications.

A Maritime Self-Defense Force transport ship has arrived off the coast of Wajima and unloaded heavy machinery that will be used for disaster cleanup work.

Concerns are also growing that Wednesday's rainy weather could trigger landslides in quake-hit areas.

Some 34,000 people in Ishikawa Prefecture have stayed at evacuation centers as of Thursday. According to the central government, at least 200 buildings have collapsed or partially damaged.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has said that Monday's quake, which struck the Noto Peninsula, was focused around 30 kilometers east-northeast of Wajima.

The temblor registered 7, the highest level, on Japan's seismic intensity scale in the adjacent town of Shika, and a major tsunami warning was triggered -- the first such case since the M9.0 quake hit northeastern Japan in 2011.

At Wajima Port, tsunami waves of at least 1.2 meters high were detected on Monday.