At least 128 people were killed in Ishikawa prefecture after a series of earthquakes struck Japan on Monday, Paralel.Az reports citing CGTN.

Another 195 people remain unaccounted for, down from an earlier count of 222, the report added.

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The death toll in the central Japan prefecture of Ishikawa from Monday's powerful earthquake has risen to 126, prefectural officials said Saturday, Paralel.Az reports citing Nippon.

The magnitude-7.6 New Year's Day quake has left 210 people unaccounted for in the prefecture, the officials said.

The toll is likely to increase, as many people are believed to remain trapped under collapsed houses.

More than 30,000 people stay in evacuation facilities set up in the prefecture. Water outage continues to affect about 66,400 households, and some 23,200 households are out of electricity.

The Japanese government plans to designate the earthquake as a disaster of extreme severity. Once designated, the subsidy rate for restoration projects conducted by local governments will be raised.

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The death toll from a major earthquake in western Japan reached 100 on Saturday as rescue workers fought aftershocks to carefully pull people from the rubble, Paralel.Az reports citing The Guardian.

Deaths had reached 98 earlier in the day, but two more were reported in Anamizu, while officials in Ishikawa prefecture – the hardest-hit region – held their daily meeting to discuss strategy and damages.

Some survivors who had clung to life for days were freed from collapsed homes. A man was pulled out 72 hours after the series of powerful quakes hit Japan’s western coast.

The number of missing was lowered to 211 as of Saturday, after it shot up two days ago.

Ishikawa officials said 59 of those who died were in the city of Wajima and 23 were in Suzu, while the others were reported in five neighbouring towns. More than 500 people have been injured, at least 27 seriously.

The Earthquake Research Institute at the University of Tokyo found that the sandy coastline in western Japan shifted by up to 250 metres (820 feet) seaward in some places.