TOKYO, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The death toll has risen to 94, with the number of people unaccounted for exceeding 200 in the central Japanese prefecture of Ishikawa on Friday, four days after a series of earthquakes of up to 7.6 magnitude struck the prefecture and its vicinity, raising concerns of escalating damages amid ongoing efforts to find survivors.

A total of 222 people were reported missing in Ishikawa as of 2:00 p.m. local time on Friday and the missing individuals, with a significant number being elderly residents, are predominantly concentrated in the cities of Wajima and Suzu, according to local media.

More than 100 residents are estimated to be trapped under collapsed buildings in the most-hit coastal city of Wajima following the earthquake on New Year's Day, Mayor Shigeru Sakaguchi told reporters on Friday morning.

Wajima's roads have been cut off and there have been frequent landslides, making the search for survivors difficult, Sakaguchi said, adding that rescue efforts are focusing on places where people have heard voices from the rubble.

A coastline in Wajima shifted about 250 meters in the wake of the powerful earthquake and moved toward the sea as a result of a ground elevation at a beach near the Kaiso fishing port in the city, a survey by the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute has found.

As the cold weather is toughening the situation for the affected areas, the National Police Agency has boosted its disaster response team in Ishikawa prefecture to around 1,100 from 700, while the government has more than doubled the number of Self-Defense Forces personnel deployed to disaster-affected areas to around 5,000.

As of 1 p.m. local time on Friday, at least 830 people are stranded in 32 districts in four municipalities across the Noto region, where many roads remain severed, leaving some communities completely isolated, public broadcaster NHK said.

The region's infrastructure has suffered severe setbacks, with around 30,000 households facing power outages and 80,000 households in 13 cities and towns experiencing water supply disruptions, Kyodo News said.

While some 33,000 people have stayed at about 370 evacuation centers in Ishikawa, issues related to sanitation, including access to toilets, have also emerged as pressing concerns, according to local governments.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday called for ensuring the hygiene and living conditions in evacuation centers, maintaining the health of the affected residents, and initiating prompt measures for the disposal of disaster-related waste.

The prime minister instructed officials to speed up road repairs, so that relief supplies and personnel could reach isolated areas and told them to start preparations for building temporary housing.

Kishida also said the government will assist the lives of people affected by the quake and requested officials to draw up a support package as soon as possible.

Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki announced that the government plans to allocate 4.74 billion yen (about 32.7 million U.S. dollars) from the reserve fund for the fiscal year 2023 to enhance "push-type support" for victims of the quake, which allows for the immediate dispatch of supplies to the disaster-stricken areas without waiting for specific requests from local authorities.

A series of strong earthquakes, with a major one of 7.6 magnitude, on Monday struck at a shallow depth in the Noto region of Ishikawa.

Centered around 30 km east-northeast of Wajima, the devastating quake registered a maximum intensity of 7. Enditem

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