The approach of winter has made securing sufficient housing a priority issue in Kawaguchi, Niigata Prefecture, where a series of earthquakes on Oct. 23 registered an intensity of 7, local officials said Tuesday.
The town sustained the worst damage from the temblors, which left four residents dead and 51 injured. The last time a 7-intensity quake hit Japan was in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.
Almost all of the town's residents are living in shelters after 276 houses were destroyed and water and gas supplies were knocked out, the officials said.