Japan Earthquake again

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Magnitude 6 earthquake strikes Japan's Kyushu island
POSTED: 14 Apr 2016 20:51 **UPDATED: 14 Apr 2016 21:38

(Map: Japan Meteorological Agency)

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TOKYO: An earthquake of magnitude 6 on the Richter struck 11km east of Kumamoto prefecture in the Japanese island of Kyushu, the US Geological Survey reported on Thursday (Apr 14).

It initially said the magnitude was 6.2 but revised it down.

The quake struck at 9.26pm (1226 GMT) at a relatively shallow depth of 10km (6.2 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.*Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the quake registered 6.4.

The earthquake was felt throughout the southwestern island of Kyushu, Agency data showed, as media reported that shinkansen, or bullet, train service was halted.

Japan's chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said that several buildings collapsed, while NHK showed some damage including broken concrete.

Watermelons fell from store shelves and lay crushed on the floor of a supermarket in Kumamoto city, near the epicentre, NHK footage showed, while objects fell from shelves and staff ducked under desks as the quake shook the NHK office in Kumamoto.*

"We intend to do the utmost to grasp the situation," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters. "I'm now planning to hear what we have gathered on the situation."

Kyushu Electric Co said it was checking conditions at its Genkai and Sendai nuclear plants.

There were no irregularities at the Genkai or Sendai nuclear plants, which are on the southernmost main island of Kyushu, or at the Ikata plant on nearby Shikkoku, the Kyodo news agency reported.


No tsunami warning was issued, but local media reported that the tremors felt were comparable to the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the March 2011 quake which struck northeastern Japan.

The quake was followed about 30 minutes later by another smaller one with a magnitude of 5.7, the agency said. That quake also did not generate a tsunami warning.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences around 20 per cent of the world's most powerful earthquakes. But rigid building codes and strict enforcement mean even powerful tremors frequently do little damage.

A massive undersea quake that hit on Mar 11, 2011, sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan's northeast coast, leaving about 18,500 people dead or missing, and sending several reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in the worst atomic accident in a generation.
- Agencies/ec


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