It took 44 hours to save this elderly man in his 80s.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday (January 4) there are a large number of people still trapped under collapsed buildings.
He added that some 7,000 rescue personal are now headed to or are already inside the earthquake zone.
"The situation in the affected area is very challenging, but from the perspective of saving lives we are making all efforts to rescue and to provide lifesaving aid to as many people as possible before the crucial 72-hour period following the disaster elapses this evening."
With that time period now elapsed, emergency officials worry survival rates will drop.
In the hard hit Ishikawa prefecture, the streets are a mess of tangled of power lines and charred building remains after a fire ravaged Wajima.
Material aid has trickled in but many evacuees remain largely cut off from food, water, electricity, and communications amid freezing temperatures and bad weather, authorities have said.
The thousands of meals and water sent there are are not enough for the 11,000 evacuees.
Hundreds queue for what food is available, like Kyoko Kinoshita, who is staying at an evacuation center.
"There's no running water, not for the toilet and we can't wash our hands. There are little babies in the evacuation center and my biggest worry is that they get infected with COVID or influenza. The spreading of illness."
The extent of the damage from the earthquake and the tsunami it triggered remains unclear.
30 villages remain inaccessible.
Some aid has been delivered via sea instead of land as officials say many roads are blocked.
However, larger ships have been unable to dock in some bays of the Noto peninsula because the seabed has buckled from the earthquake, Ishikawa's Governor said on Thursday.
