A woman in her 90s has been pulled alive from a collapsed house in western Japan, 124 hours after a major earthquake hit the region, killing at least 126 people, toppling buildings and setting off landslides. The woman in Suzu city, Ishikawa prefecture, survived for more than five days after the 7.6 magnitude quake on Monday. Nationally broadcast news footage showed helmeted rescue workers covering the view of the area with blue plastic, and the woman was not visible. Chances for survival diminish after the first 72 hours. Several other dramatic rescues have been reported over the past few days as soldiers, firefighters and others joined a widespread recovery effort. Among the 126 dead was a five-year-old boy who had been recovering from injuries he sustained when boiling water spilled on him during the earthquake. His condition suddenly worsened and he died on Friday, according to Ishikawa prefecture, the hardest-hit region. Aftershocks threatened to bury more homes and block roads crucial for aid deliveries. Officials warned that roads already cracked could collapse completely. That risk was growing as rain and snow was expected overnight and Sunday. Wajima city has recorded the highest number of deaths, with 69, followed by Suzu, with 38. More than 500 people were injured, at least 27 of them seriously. The quake left roofs sitting haphazardly on roads and everything beneath them crushed flat. The roads themselves were warped like rubber. A fire left a neighbourhood in Wajima in ashes. More than 200 people are still unaccounted for, although the number has fluctuated. Eleven people were reported trapped under two homes that collapsed in Anamizu. For Shiro Kokuda, 76, the house in Wajima where he grew up was spared but a nearby temple went up in flames and he was still looking for friends at evacuation centres. “It’s been really tough,” he said. Japan has one of the fastest-ageing societies in the world. The population in Ishikawa and nearby areas has dwindled over the past few years. A fragile economy based on crafts and tourism is now more fragile than ever. In an unusual gesture from nearby North Korea, the leader, Kim Jong-un, sent a message of condolence to the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, the official Korean central news agency reported on Saturday. Japan earlier received messages expressing sympathy and promises of aid from the the US president, Joe Biden, and other allies. A government spokesperson, Yoshimasa Hayashi, told reporters Japan was grateful for all the messages, including the one from North Korea. Hayashi said the last time Japan received a condolence message from North Korea for a disaster was in 1995. The nationally circulated Yomiuri newspaper reported that its aerial study had located more than 100 landslides, and some were blocking key roads. Some communities remained isolated, and were still waiting for aid. “I hope the city recovers, and I hope people won’t leave, and they stay here to work hard toward recovery,” said Seizo Shinbo, a seafood trader, who was stocking up on noodles, canned goods and rice balls at a supermarket. “There is no food. There is no water. And the worst is gas. People are still in kilometer-long lines.”