Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the quake-hit northern region of Hokkaido Sunday, as officials confirmed two more deaths bringing the toll to 37. Abe toured the city and commercial hub of Sapporo, where Thursday's 6.6-magnitude jolt has left houses tilted and roads cracked.

He was scheduled to take a helicopter ride to view the devastation in Atsuma, a small rural town which has seen most of the deaths caused by the quake. A cluster of dwellings in the town were wrecked when a hillside collapsed from the force of the quake, creating deep brown scars in the landscape.