Emergency workers struggle to get aid to quake-ravaged northern Japan as aftershocks rumble

NAGAOKA, Japan — Emergency workers struggled to rush food and blankets to crowded evacuation centers as strong aftershocks jolted an earthquake-shattered swath of northern Japan on Monday. The weekend quakes killed 26 people and drove some 100,000 from their homes.

A 5.6-magnitude aftershock hit just after dawn Monday, swaying buildings and deepening fears that the area's already shaky infrastructure would sustain more damage. Several other, smaller aftershocks were felt through the night, and Japan's Meteorological Agency warned of more quakes in the region.

Rain began falling on the region late Monday, threatening to unleash mudslides as it pelted soil loosened by the earthquakes.

Officials said some 98,000 people had sought refuge at gymnasiums and public buildings following Saturday evening's 6.8-magnitude tremor, which knocked down houses, ripped through roads and bridges and derailed a high speed train in rural Niigata prefecture, about 160 miles northwest of Tokyo.

Much of the region remained without water, electricity or gas Monday morning. Officials struggled over ruined roadways to fill a shortfall in food supplies in the area and bring blankets, needed to brave near-freezing nighttime temperatures.

In Nagaoka, the largest city in the quake zone, homeless residents pitched tents in a neighborhood park and lined up with cans and bottles in front of a water truck that arrived for the first time early Monday.

"The aftershocks are still strong, so we felt it was safer to stay here even though our house wasn't all that badly damaged," said Misako Tsubata as she sipped tea outside the tent where she was staying with her two daughters, her mother and her husband.

The national government in Tokyo said it was shipping another 10,000 blankets to the area. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he wanted to visit the zone "as soon as possible."

"We will do our best so that victims of the earthquake can live in safety as soon as possible," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said, adding that the government had shipped loads of canned biscuits to the area on Sunday.

Saturday's quake was the worst to hit Japan since 1995, when more than 6,000 people were killed by a 7.2 magnitude temblor in and around the port city of Kobe.

U.S. Ambassador Howard Baker pledged $50,000 in aid "as a symbol of the U.S. desire to do whatever it can to assist the government and people of Japan during this difficult time," the U.S. Embassy said.