The wooden home barely withstood the first earthquake. An even stronger one the next night dealt what might have been the final blow - if not to the house, then to the Tanaka family's peace of mind.
The Tanakas joined about 50 other residents of the southern Japanese town of Ozu who were planning to sleep in their cars at a public park after two nights of increasingly terrifying earthquakes.
"I don't think we can go back there. Our life is in limbo," said 62-year-old Yoshiaki Tanaka. He, his wife and his 85-year-old mother fled their home after Saturday's quake.
Hundreds of people lined up for rations at distribution points before nightfall, bracing for the expected rain and strong winds. Local stores quickly ran out of stock and closed their doors.
One landslide tore open a mountainside in Minamiaso, another gnawed at a highway and in another part of the village, houses hung precariously at the edge of a huge hole.
Tanaka had spent Friday cleaning up from the first earthquake and hoping the aftershocks would gradually subside.In Mashiki, where people were trapped under rubble for hours, an unconscious 93-year-old woman, Yumiko Yamauchi, was dragged out from the debris of her home.
"Then came the big one, which was so powerful I couldn't even stand on my feet. It was horrifying," he said.
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