Bangla2000 | International News - Aftershocks continue to rattle Japanese island

An official from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government surveys the demolished shrine on the island of Kozushima, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of Tokyo, on Sunday July 2, 2000, a day after a strong earthquake struck the tiny island in the Pacific. The main building of the shrine was crushed under a landslide. The Saturday July 1 tremor killed one person and triggered landslides in the wide areas of the island. (AP Photo)

TOKYO, JULY 3 (AP) - Strong aftershocks were likely to continue for a week on Japanese islands jolted by a powerful quake that killed one man, buckled roads and demolished a shrine, officials said Sunday.

About 100 people living near a cliff on Kozushima island were evacuated as more than a thousand aftershocks were recorded since Saturday's magnitude 6.4 quake, said island official Hiroyoshi Shimizu.

In all, 200 residents on the island took shelter overnight at a public facility or at relatives' homes, another island official, Tomihiro Ishinoda, said Monday morning.

Village officials found the quake destroyed roads at six places and damaged more than 10 houses and 100 gravestones on Kozushima, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) south of Tokyo.

Shimizu said the main building of a Shinto shrine was crushed under a landslide. Shimizu said about 50 Self-Defense Force soldiers left the island Sunday after removing boulders that had tumbled from mountainsides and clearing roads of debris.

The government's earthquake center said magnitude 4.5 and 4.9 aftershocks were registered Sunday and predicted that fairly strong quakes would continue to shake the island. It warned residents to be on the alert for four or five days.

A 5.4-magnitude quake jolted the island at 5:03 a.m. Monday (2003 GMT Sunday) and was centered at a depth about 10 kilometers (6 miles) under the seabed near the island, the Meteorological Agency said.

Ishinoda said there were some rockslides caused by the latest tremor, but no injuries or other significant damage were reported on the island.

The quake Saturday afternoon struck the Izu islands with the biggest force on Niijima and Kozushima, an island of about 2,300 people.

A 34-year-old fisherman in a car was buried under falling rocks on Kozushima and died at a hospital.

It also shook Miyakejima, just southeast of Kozushima, where residents were allowed to return to their homes on Friday after fears of a volcanic eruption subsided.