Millions of people are on high alert after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck South West Japan late on Wednesday.
The quake’s epicenter was pinpointed to a channel between the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, about 11 miles west of Uwajima, at a depth of about 15 miles.
Footage on social media showed buildings shaking from the tremor.
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The powerful quake came just four months after Japan was rocked by a devastating 7.6 quake on New Year’s day which was followed by as many as 1,200 aftershocks and linked to 245 deaths.
MSN reports: The earthquake registered an intensity level of 6 on Japan’s 1-7 scale in Ehime and Kochi prefectures, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, but no tsunami warnings was issued. “In areas where the jolt was strong, please do not approach any dangerous areas. There is no risk of tsunami caused by this earthquake,” stated the JMA on X.
Shikoku Electric Power, the operator of the Ikata nuclear plant in Ehime prefecture, stated that there were no irregularities following the earthquake, according to public broadcaster NHK. It comes just two weeks after the strongest earthquake in a quarter-century rocked nearby Taiwan, killing nine people and injuring at least 1,011 people. Dozens were stranded at quarries and a national park and some residents scrambled out the windows of damaged buildings.
The quake, which injured more than 1,000, struck just before 8am on Wednesday, April 3, and was centered off the coast of rural, mountainous Hualien County, where some buildings leaned at severe angles, their ground floors crushed. Just over 150 kilometres away in the capital of Taipei, tiles fell from older buildings, and schools evacuated students to sports fields as aftershocks followed.
