TOKYO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Japan is preparing the expansion of budget reserves in the fiscal 2024/25 budget from its planned 500 billion yen ($3.48 billion) to support the recovery from the Noto peninsula earthquake, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Tuesday.

Suzuki said the cabinet has earlier approved 4.74 billion yen in spending from the fiscal 2023/24 reserves to deliver quick aid like water, food, diapers and heaters. Tapping budget reserves enables a faster and more "realistic" response than compiling an extra budget, Suzuki told a press conference.

The magnitude 7.6 earthquake that hit Noto in Ishikawa prefecture on Japan's west coast on New Year's Day has killed at least 180 people, making it the deadliest since the 2016 quake in Kumamoto.

($1 = 143.6300 yen) (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)