Photo/Illutration Firefighters from Osaka suspend rescue operations in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 3 after a major aftershock hit the Noto Peninsula. (Shinnosuke Ito)

The Noto Peninsula was hit by more aftershocks than comparable big earthquakes following the 7.6 magnitude temblor that jolted Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year’s Day.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said 219 aftershocks of magnitude 3.5 or greater had hit by 10 a.m. on Jan. 2. The primary earthquake struck at 4:10 p.m. the previous day.

Officials said the number of aftershocks was about 3 to 4 times greater than for the Great Hanshin Earthquake in 1995 as well as the stronger of the 2016 twin earthquakes that hit Kumamoto Prefecture, both of which had a magnitude of 7.3.

However, the figure was about the same as that recorded during the same time frame following a magnitude-7.8 earthquake off the southwestern coast of Hokkaido in 1993.

Seismologist Naoshi Hirata, chairman of the government’s Earthquake Research Committee and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, told a news conference the large number of aftershocks is characteristic of a megaquake occurring at a land-sea boundary along the Sea of Japan.

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