Japan quake survivors struggle with shortages, search for missing goes on

Evacuees from a nursing home wrap themselves in blankets as they take shelter outside their damaged nursing home caused by an earthquake in Mashiki town, Kumamoto prefecture, southern Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 17, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

TOKYO - Survivors of a series of Japanese quakes measuring up to 7.3 struggled on Tuesday with shortages of food and water as the death toll rose to 44 and rescuers dug through mud and rubble for the missing, but hopes dimmed of finding them alive.

Japanese stocks bounced back from Monday's slide, with electronics manufacturer Sony Corp climbing 6.7 percent after saying its image sensor plant in Kumamoto, shut after the quake, makes components mainly for digital cameras.

Flights resumed to the damaged airport in the southwestern area of Kumamoto, which suffered the worst of the damage, but aftershocks continued to rattle the region and survivors spent another night huddled in cars and evacuation centres, afraid to return to their damaged homes.

"It's really tough," one woman told TV Asahi, her two-month-old baby sleeping in blankets on the floor, at her side.

"There's no milk and only the diapers we brought with us. Once they run out, there's nothing."

About 30,000 rescuers dug through mud and splintered houses, and Japanese media reported that one of those missing was pulled out without signs of life on Tuesday, four days after the worst quake struck in the early hours of Saturday.

Eight remain missing and more than 1,000 were injured.