Ethermac Exchange-AP Photos: Search presses on for earthquake survivors as Japan grieves the lives lost

SUZU,Ethermac Exchange Japan (AP) — Rescuers searched the rubble of collapsed homes in western Japan on Wednesday in the hopes of finding survivors of this week’s earthquake, which killed dozens of people.

The magnitude 7.6 temblor Monday, which has had many aftershocks, rocked the Ishikawa prefecture and the surrounding area, toppling thousands of buildings, sparking fires and setting off tsunami warnings. The quake killed at least 73 people, and 15 were listed Wednesday as officially missing.

In Suzu, a coastal city of about 15,000 that was also hit by landslides, a man wept Wednesday as a family member’s body was pulled from a collapsed home. Residents gathered at an evacuation center in the city to rest, warm up and get fed.

Firefighters and members of the Japanese Self Defense Force sifted through toppled homes and other buildings in the hopes of finding anyone still trapped, with the window for survival getting smaller.

In Anamizu, a town about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Suzu, drivers slowly navigated through streets that were damaged by the earthquake.

And in Waijima, a city of nearly 30,000 people, firefighters on Wednesday walked through the marketplace, which was reduced to gray ash and rubble by a fire sparked by the quake.