日本气象厅有关人士25日说，新泻县小千谷市25日上午又发生两次较大余震，分别为零时28分发生的里氏5.2级地震和6时点零5分发生的里氏5.6级地震。发生在日本新泻县中部地区的地震造成的伤亡人数25日随着确认工作的展开进一步上升，据该县警察总部调查显示，死亡人数已增加至24人，伤者超过2100人(根据共同社调查)。伤亡人数规模之大是自1995年的阪神大地震以来的首次。

Another powerful earthquake has hit northern Japan, two days after a series of deadly tremors rattled the same area killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 1,200.

The latest shock, measuring 5.6, hit the rural region of Niigata at 6:05 a.m. (9:05 p.m. GMT) and was also felt in the Japanese capital Tokyo, 260 kilometers (155 miles) to the south.

The focus was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the earth's surface, Japan's national broadcaster NHK reported.

At least one building in Niigata collapsed as a result of the latest quake, Reuters news service reports.

Meanwhile, thousands of weary and frightened residents in northern Japan spent a second night in shelters, cars or in the open after Saturday's tremors.

Television pictures showed hundreds of people crammed together under covers and coats in one shelter.

Many complained that they had little or no food, as they waited for supplies to reach the mountainous area, some parts of which have been cut off by landslides, NHK said.

Other residents have begun salvaging belongings from their flattened homes, as hundreds of people suffering injuries overwhelmed local hospitals.

"After the first earthquake, I ran to my shop," one woman said.

"Then the next one hit and I was clinging to a pillar. I ran out with nothing in my hands. All I have left is what I am wearing now."

The earth movement was so powerful from Saturday's quakes that it also was felt in Tokyo, where the city's skyscrapers swayed for about a minute.

The first of three temblors was a 6.8-magnitude quake centered in Ojiya. It rocked the area on Saturday evening, knocking a bullet train from its rails and ripping through roadways.

Several strong quakes followed through the night, and aftershocks continued to jolt the area Sunday morning.

The region was hit with blackouts , ruptured water mains and cracked and buckled roads reports said.

The bullet train derailment was the first since such trains began running in Japan in 1964.

A second-floor supermarket collapsed as it was busy with customers.

Across the state, 61,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters and in Ojiya, 5,290 people took refuge at 50 different evacuation centers, AP quoted an official as saying.

The temblors came just days after Japan's deadliest typhoon in more than a decade, which left 78 people dead and a dozens missing.

Saturday's temblors caused mudslides in areas where the storm's torrential rains had loosened the ground.

Japan is among the world's most earthquake-prone countries.